Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

ID-458-2

The study provides immediate clinical benefits ensuring that people with advanced HF in NWL receive timely, life-saving interventions.

Many individuals with advanced HF remain undiagnosed or unrecognised, even though they meet criteria for a heart transplant or LVAD—treatments known to significantly improve survival and quality of life. This project ensures that these patients are systematically identified and referred for specialist evaluation, potentially reducing the high one-year mortality commonly observed in advanced HF. 2. Enhanced Quality of Life Patients who are accepted for transplant or LVAD can experience a marked reduction in HF symptoms, fewer hospital admissions, and greater functional capacity. By pinpointing eligible patients earlier, we offer them the best chance to benefit from these transformative treatments. 3. Equitable Access to Care Rather than relying on opportunistic or clinician-led identification alone, this project employs a regionwide screening mechanism that captures patients from primary and secondary care. This reduces inequalities by ensuring that individuals under the care of non-specialist cardiologists or general practitioners are not overlooked. 4. Substantial Increase in Referral and Treatment Rates Current referral rates for advanced HF therapies in NWL are low (<15 referrals per year). Preliminary estimates suggest around 255 patients in NWL could meet referral criteria annually, vastly exceeding existing numbers. Even should 20% (approximately 51 patients) progress to transplantation or LVAD, this would more than double current advanced therapy rates, with a profound impact on patient outcomes. 5. Long-Term Systemic Improvements By identifying the key barriers to referral—whether limited awareness among healthcare professionals or gaps in service coordination—this project will inform future guidelines, commissioning decisions, and educational initiatives. Ultimately, these findings could serve as a model for other regions, ensuring that no patient who could benefit from advanced HF therapies is inadvertently missed. Through this structured and transparent approach, the study provides both immediate clinical benefits (identification and referral of eligible patients) and long-term strategic benefits (refining pathways, guidelines, and commissioning), ensuring that people with advanced HF in NWL—and eventually elsewhere—receive timely, life-saving interventions.

17/04/2025

01/11/2026

16/07/2026

De-Personalised

25/05/2026

TRE