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trecent years deaths from coronary heart disease have halved in the Bournemouth and Poole area. This is probably due to many different changes including lifestyle changes, better diet and exercise patterns but better hospital treatment and services like ours have undoubtedly contributed a large part.
Who is it for?
 If you have angina
or peripheral vascular disease or have had a heart attack, heart surgery
or stroke —this service is for you.
We would also like people who have
no past history of these illnesses but have been assessed as having a
high risk of developing them to be followed up by this service. Patients
with a high risk score are identified by entering age, sex,
family history, blood
pressures, smoking, cholesterols and presence of diabetes into a
computer program.
How do I have the check?
In the past doctors have concentrated on blood pressure monitored
during consultations for other problems. This is no longer adequate. To properly assess those of you with cardiovascular problems we must
measure blood pressure, perform blood tests and ask about other risk
factors.
These checks are now done by our practice technicians. The aim of
this service is to reduce your chance of suffering a heart attack or
stroke or sustaining damage to kidneys and arteries.
What happens to the results?
- If your blood pressure is not controlled you will be asked to see
Jill Swan to check it and modify your
treatment if necessary. She will discuss the test results with you.
- If your blood pressure is controlled your doctor will review the tests and
create a report for you with results of latest tests and any changes of
treatment required.
- Smoking: we are very keen to help smokers to stop - see smoke-stop.
- Exercise: regular exercise is very important. This may
range from regular brisk walks to specially supervised exercise
tailored for all ages and levels of fitness at the Littledown Centre
or various sports centres in Poole. Ask when you come for a check to
be referred to one of these GP referral schemes.
- Diet: this need not be unpleasant and restrictive. We
merely want you to eat a healthy diet.
- Blood pressure: Good control of blood pressure is very
important. The
NICE guidelines
have given
us new target blood pressures and advice on how to achieve them.
See also high blood pressure
- Cholesterol: for those of you with ischaemic heart disease
in particular it is important for us to try and get your cholesterol
below target levels. If you do not have ischaemic heart
disease or had a stroke but you are over 40 and your 10-year risk of
having one is over 20% we would be happy to give you cholesterol
treatment but we would not monitor your cholesterol thereafter.
See
NICE guideline published June 2008
- Kidney function: this can be upset by high blood pressure
and certain medicines used to treat it. We like to check it yearly. See Chronic Kidney Disease
- Diabetes: this not only causes cardiovascular disease but
develops more commonly in those with high blood pressure and
cardiovascular problems. We need to look out for it.
See also diabetes care
- Side effects of treatment: treatment to reduce your risk of
problems is very important but we do not want it to interfere with
your life. Please also tell us if you are buying other
medicines—they may affect your response to prescribed medicines. See also Cardiovascular Medicines
If problems are identified it may be necessary to see you as often as
every 2 weeks so we can get them under control.
Once control has been achieved and your measurements are stable, annual visits are sufficient. Back to top
Page last updated
April, 2010 |
