Pumping Marvellous

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Hospital Trusts stating to realise there are other forms of care

After reading this article I thought it was pertinent to put it on the website. Although not directly realted to Heart Failure it has a real root and branch effect on Heart Failure patients and their relatives, especially ones that are on Warfarin or similair medications that require frequent return trips to hospitals for testing.

As you may or may not know Heart Failure is a chronic long term condition that needs managing not just be clinicians but also the patient and their family so please read this article which I have pulled from the Yorkshire Post as I believe these are trendsetters and hopefully will spark the level of compassion not only for Heart Failure patients and their families but other people who suffer from long term conditions like Cancer. I know over the past 20 months my hospital trips have cost over £100 just in parking and these are just my costs not my families costs!

“Free car parking for patients with long-term conditions like cancer is being introduced this week to three hospitals in the region. Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is dropping charges for those who have to attend hospital more than eight times in a 30-day period or have to spend a night in hospital with a sick child. The changes, which will affect car parks at Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Goole hospitals, start on Thursday. Audrey Bradford, General Manager for Macmillan Cancer Support in the East Midlands and Northern England welcomed the move.

She said: “We are delighted Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is allowing free car parking for cancer patients.”

“Macmillan Cancer Support is campaigning on this issue across England – it’s wrong that cancer patients should have to fork out for parking just so they can get to their life saving treatment.”

Other visitors, however, now face paying a charge if they stay over 20 minutes. Currently the first 40 minutes is free. The new charging regime will see visitors paying £1.70 for the first two hours (up 20p) and £2.70 (up 30p) for between two and four hours. Cars will no longer be clamped. Instead Civil Parking Notices will be issued costing £70, or £35 if paid within two weeks.

Director of facilities and information Nigel Myhill said: “The range of measures we are proposing in the new policy are aimed at ensuring the trust contributes towards targets to reducing carbon emissions, while ensuring those who need access to our hospitals get it.

“The new policy will also allow the trust to offer free parking to patients who have been diagnosed with cancer or patients who have long term conditions such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and heart failure.”

The one point that does perplex us is how the policy contributes to the Carbon Emission policy, does this mean that hospitals are trying to reduce the times patients attend hospital to align their carbon emissions ploicy statement?

Heart Failure patients not only suffer from a debilitating medical condition but many if not all have had to manage major financial hardship and disruption therefore the money they pay for their hospital trip can be put to better use rather than it being used to support a cardbon emissions policy.

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The article below is commenting on the new “polypill” that is being touted around medical circles as being the answer to reduce cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Obviously not commenting on the Cancer element then for cardiovascular disease there is no substitute for a Healthy Lifestyle. What we are concerned with is that people will not look after them selves more readily if they think they are taking the “miracle” pill, in other words the pill will somehow cleanse them!

Anyway enjoy the read below and understand it for what it is and build your own opinion around it.

Researchers say the combined  red heart ‘polypill’ could reduce deaths from bowel cancer, kidney failure and cardiovascular disease. The four-in-one drug combines low-dose aspirin, a statin called simvastatin to reduce cholesterol and two blood pressure-lowering medicines, lisinopril and hydrochlorothiazde.

Separate pills are already prescribed to millions around the world to lower their chances of heart attacks and strokes. But many doctors believe a combined pill could save more lives, save the NHS money and be more convenient for patients. Some even argue that a heart-boosting polypill should be taken by everyone over 55 to cut the risk of disease.

The pill will cost £4 a month per patient, but it is unlikely to be available in Britain for several years. Scientists say larger trials are needed to test whether the drugs are best provided in the form of a polypill, or as separate medicines. The latest study, published yesterday in the journal Public Library of Science One, tested the pill on 378 people who did not already need any of its components, but who had more than a 7.5 per cent estimated risk of cardiovascular disease. Twelve weeks after the start of the study, experts analysed the effect of the drug on blood pressure and cholesterol and how well it was tolerated.

Professor Rodgers, of The George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, said: ‘The results show a halving in heart disease and stroke can be expected for people taking this polypill long-term. ‘We know from other trials that long-term there would also be a 25-50 per cent lower death rate from colon cancer, plus reductions in other major cancers,
heart failure and renal failure. ‘These benefits would take several years to “kick in”, but of course one of the hopes with a polypill is it helps people take medicines long-term.’

Around one in six people experienced side effects including stomach irritation and coughs. One in 20 stopped the treatment because of the side effects.

We will just have to wait and see on this one.