Our innovations

The NHS Long Term Plan states that the biggest area where the NHS can save lives over the next 10 years is in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

CVD affects around seven million people in the UK and is a significant cause of disability and death. CVD is responsible for one in four premature deaths in the UK, with those in the most deprived areas almost twice as likely to die from CVD.

Over the next 10 years, the NHS will help prevent up to 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases.

HIEM will support our local systems to detect, appropriately manage and optimise treatment for heart failure, high cholesterol, hypertension and FH, and so reduce broader cardiovascular risk, prevent heart attacks, strokes, and dementia.

england.nhs.uk

longtermplan.nhs.uk

Our focus

Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH)

Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH)

Supporting our systems to improve patients care and outcomes by effectively identifying and treating patients with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (an inherited genetic condition which predisposes people to extremely high cholesterol, which cannot be managed by lifestyle modifications alone).

Learn more

Lipid Optimisation

Lipid Optimisation

Supporting our systems to improve patients care and outcomes by effectively identifying and treating patients with hypercholesterolaemia (patients with high cholesterol)

Learn more

Blood Pressure Optimisation

Blood Pressure Optimisation

Supporting our systems to improve patients care and outcomes by effectively identifying and treating patients with hypertension (high blood pressure).

Learn more

Heart Failure

Heart Failure

Supporting our systems to improve patients care and outcomes by effectively identifying and treating patients with heart failure.

 

Resources for healthcare professionals

  • Latest Education: The Proactive Care Frameworks: East Midlands Learning

    Since Covid-19, Health Innovation East Midlands has supported ICBs, PCNs and GP practices to implement the Proactive Care Frameworks to help better manage patients’ long-term conditions in primary care.

    A new video revisiting some of our most valuable archived clips rounds up teams’ experiences of introducing the new ways of working and their top tips for implementation. A Top Tips guide can also be found here.

    Colleagues have found that using the frameworks allows better identification of patients who require intervention, and of those who can be managed well by other team members and / or remotely. The frameworks also enable improved patient self-management and digital pathways, freeing up GP and nurse time for patients most in need.

    If you are interested to learn more about our previous HIEM Proactive Care Frameworks programmes, including effective ways to run patient searches and risk stratification in a variety of long-term condition areas, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

  • Lowering Lincolnshire Lipids: Integrated Lipid Nurse Specialist Service

    We are proud to have been working with Lincolnshire ICS to introduce the first Lincolnshire Specialist Lipids Service covering both primary and secondary care.

    The service has been in place for approximately one year and during that time, it has helped to reduce patient waiting times for an initial assessment with a lipidology consultant from 58 weeks down to 13 weeks.

    A new video discusses the success of the service and the benefits it has brought for local patients and for wider CVD services.

    If you are interested in how to run patient searches and stratify patients in primary care to identify patients most at risk in a variety of long-term condition areas, get in touch with HIEM, and look out for our video next month featuring teams in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire who have introduced Proactive Care Frameworks into their services.

    Contact us for more information on how we could support your service transformation.

     

    Resources referenced in the video

     

    Manchester Search & Risk Stratification Tool 

     

    Disclaimer

    Please note any clinical opinions/ views shared here remain those of the clinician/s and are not necessarily those of Health Innovation East Midlands.

    Any case studies, links or other information (not directly produced by HIEM) is for the purpose of sharing approach, successes and learning as identified by the clinicians involved. HIEM does not declare or promote this information as ‘best practice’.

    Readers are advised to follow the latest national and local clinical guidelines for their area.

    Clinical advice and guidelines change – please take note that this podcast was recorded on 11/06/24, and any guidance shared or discussed may be superseded in the future.

    Declaration of Interests

     

  • Education produced by HIEM

    Podcast: Communication – practical advice and tips to support your patient’s lipid management journey

    This episode, brought to you by Health Innovation East Midlands (HIEM),

    features conversations with leading figures in health innovation to help us better understand the key enablers and barriers to good communication between clinicians and patients relating to lipid management.

    Although conversations centre around lipid management the communication techniques and reasonable adjustments discussed will be applicable to any interaction between a health care professional and patient.

    This episode will explore:

    • Why communication is so important in a patient’s lipid management journey, addressing some of the barriers patients may already have to statins
    • How clinicians can best communicate with their patients to maximise the impact of their patient’s lipid management journey, with practical advice and tips from a speech and language therapist.

    In this podcast you will hear from key speakers including: 

    • Professor Alun Roebuck (Senior Consultant Nurse in Cardiology, at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust)
    • Dr James Howarth (GP Spilsby Surgery, Clinical lead East Locality – Lincolnshire ICB)  
    • Susie Dunham (Speech and Language Therapist working in the Community Learning Disability team, at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust)
    • Tina Kundi (CVD Project Manager at the Health Innovation East Midlands) 

    As part of this podcast HIEM, with support from the Speech and Language Therapy Team at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Trust, has produced a Top Tips document to support health care professionals when considering reasonable adjustment and communicating about cardiovascular health. This document can be accessed here.

    We have also engaged with patients with lived experience of CVD to understand their views and personal experiences. This will help inform the CVD programme. If you would like to find out more about this work or to get involved, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

    We would value any feedback on this podcast to help us tailor future materials and events to the needs of our colleagues and systems, please click here to complete this short survey.

    If you would like to learn more about the organisations mentioned and guidelines discussed, please find useful links below: 

    Disclaimer

    Please note any clinical opinions/ views shared here remain those of the clinician/s and are not necessarily those of Health Innovation East Midlands.

    Any case studies, links or other information (not directly produced by HIEM) is for the purpose of sharing approach, successes and learning as identified by the clinicians involved. HIEM does not declare or promote this information as ‘best practice’.

    Readers are advised to follow the latest national and local clinical guidelines for their area.

    Clinical advice and guidelines change – please take note that this podcast was recorded on 29/11/23, and any guidance shared or discussed may be superseded in the future. 

    Declaration of interests

    In conversation with Professor Kelvin Lee, Dr Carl Deaney and Meredith Donaldson - practical implementation of the lipid management pathway recording, April 2023

    Please note any clinical opinions/ views shared here remain those of the clinician/s and are not necessarily those of the Health Innovation East Midlands.

    Any case studies, links or other information (not directly produced by the HIEM) is for the purpose of sharing approach, successes and learning as identified by the clinicians involved. The HIEM does not declare or promote this information as ‘best practice’.

    Readers are advised to follow the latest national and local clinical guidelines for their area.

    Clinical advice and guidelines change – please take note that this webinar was recorded on 15.3.23, and any guidance shared or discussed may be superseded in the future. 

     

    EMAHSN Lipid Management and Familial Hypercholesterolaemia webinar, July 2022

    Please note any clinical opinions/ views shared here remain those of the clinician/s and are not necessarily those of the Health Innovation East Midlands.

    Any case studies, links or other information (not directly produced by the HIEM) is for the purpose of sharing approach, successes and learning as identified by the clinicians involved. The HIEM does not declare or promote this information as ‘best practice’.

    Readers are advised to follow the latest national and local clinical guidelines for their area.

    Clinical advice and guidelines change – please take note that this webinar was recorded on 20.7.22, and any guidance shared or discussed may be superseded in the future. 

    EMAHSN Lipid Management and Familial Hypercholesterolaemia webinar, December 2022

    Please note any clinical opinions/ views shared here remain those of the clinician/s and are not necessarily those of the Health Innovation East Midlands.

    Any case studies, links or other information (not directly produced by the HIEM) is for the purpose of sharing approach, successes and learning as identified by the clinicians involved. The HIEM does not declare or promote this information as ‘best practice’.

    Readers are advised to follow the latest national and local clinical guidelines for their area.

    Clinical advice and guidelines change – please take note that this webinar was recorded on 14.12.22, and any guidance shared or discussed may be superseded in the future. 

    The Lipidology Podcast – Understanding QOF: The 2023/24 Lipid Indicators

    Please note any clinical opinions/ views shared here remain those of the clinician/s and are not necessarily those of the Health Innovation East Midlands.

    Any case studies, links or other information (not directly produced by the HIEM) is for the purpose of sharing approach, successes and learning as identified by the clinicians involved. The HIEM does not declare or promote this information as ‘best practice’.

    Readers are advised to follow the latest national and local clinical guidelines for their area.

    Clinical advice and guidelines change – please take note that this podcast was recorded on 12/7/23, and any guidance shared or discussed may be superseded in the future. 

  • National guidance/frameworks

    National guidance and pathway information

    NHS England national guidance for lipid management (AAC Pathway)

    NHS England statin intolerance pathway guidance 

     

    AHSN Lipid management pathways for primary care and secondary care clinicians (under review) 

    • Lipid Optimisation Pathway following an Acute Cardiovascular Event in secondary care

    Pathway for secondary care – following an Acute Cardiovascular Event

    • Lipid Optimisation Pathway for Secondary Prevention in Primary Care, for primary care clinicians

    Pathway for primary care – for Secondary Prevention in Primary Care

     

    NG238 Guidance:

    https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng238

    Summary of key recommendations from national guidance on lipid management

    A summary of key recommendations from national guidance on  lipid management for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Published 2022

    UCLPartners Proactive Care Framework for hypertension

    helps primary care teams to improve blood pressure and broader CVD risk management, particularly lipids, in people with hypertension. It was developed by our partner AHSN, UCL Partners.

    UCL Partners proactive care frameworks resources

  • Inclisiran information/education

    Inclisiran explained video - interview with Dr Phil Jennings, Chief Officer of the Innovation Agency and AHSN Network Lead for Rapid Uptake Products

    A video for GPs and healthcare professionals 

    Prescqipp clinical webinar on Inclisiran

    Inclisiran reimbursement guide

    A selection of videos by Health Innovation NENC, explaining the role of inclisiran in the lipid management pathway:

  • Useful CVD resources

    Familial Hypercholesterolaemia: Useful Resources

    We have produced a document to signpost primary care professionals to existing informative and credible resources on familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). The resources listed have not been developed or accredited by Health Innovation East Midlands, but rather, have been selected by the Health Innovation CVD Delivery Team as ‘useful’ resources.

    Read the document

    ‘Top tips’ to help you implement Proactive Care Frameworks

    Health Innovation East Midlands, as part of the 2021 – 2023 Blood Pressure Optimisation programme, supported Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and practices across the East Midlands to implement the Hypertension Proactive Care Framework. This document includes some of the system top tips for implementation of the Proactive Care Frameworks.

    Read the document

    Q&A – Secondary Prevention Lipid Optimisation

    We have produced a document designed to support lipid optimisation in primary care by answering some of the frequently asked questions we hear from practitioners who are supporting patients to lower their cholesterol after a CVD event (secondary prevention).

    Read the document

    A guide to patient search tools for lipid management produced by the AAC.

    The guide provides clinicians with an overview of some of the existing search tools available stipulating what each tool does, where to find it, training needs and associated costs (if any).

    Download the guide

    Primary care Cardiovascular Society website - Information for healthcare professionals

    Provides up to date CVD education opportunities for primary care health care practitioner. Membership is free for all practicing health care professionals.

    A number of resources from the British Heart Foundation to Understanding risk factors such as Understanding blood pressure, cholesterol, stress, weight amongst many others. Available for patients, and for clinicians to share with patients electronically, in a link by text or to print (hard copies can also be delivered to practices).

    Understanding risk factors | BHF

    Information and resources available for clinicians from the Stroke Association:

    https://www.stroke.org.uk/professionals

     

    Heart UK. For professionals: https://www.heartuk.org.uk/health-professionals/home

    Improving Population Health | An Introduction to Lipid Management in Primary Care

    To support GP practices to meet 23/24 QOF cholesterol targets, Professor Ahmet Fuat, GPSI in Cardiology, explains how practices can treat patients in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

    Implementing an Innovative Lipid Management Technique Using siRNA LDL-C Lowering Therapy: Lessons Learned in an NHS Primary Care Practice With Worked Case Examples 

    Implementing an Innovative Lipid Management Technique Using siRNA LDL-C Lowering Therapy: Lessons Learned in an NHS Primary Care Practice With Worked Case Examples - Carl Deaney, Meredith Donaldson, Agne Meskauskiene, 2023 (sagepub.com)

    Carl Deaney  Meredith Donaldson, and Agne Meskauskiene

    Published online May 16, 2023

 

Resources for members of the public

In addition to our clinical resources we have also collated some useful resources for members of the public.

Please note any clinical opinions/ views shared here remain those of the clinician/s and are not necessarily those of the Health Innovation East Midlands.

Any case studies, links or other information (not directly produced by the HIEM) is for the purpose of sharing approach, successes and learning as identified by the clinicians involved. The HIEM does not declare or promote this information as ‘best practice’.

Readers are advised to follow the latest national and local clinical guidelines for their area. Clinical advice and guidelines change – please take note that any guidance shared or discussed may be superseded in the future. 

 

More about CVD prevention

Get involved

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