EDITORIAL
National variations in cardiac service provision: how united is our kingdom?
1 Department of Cardiology, The Heart and Lung Centre, Wolverhampton, UK
2 Department of Cardiology, Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Michael S Norell
The Heart & Lung Centre, Wolverhampton WV10 0QP, UK; michael.norell@rwh-tr.nhs.uk
Has devolution in the UK brought about a disparity in cardiological resources, putting those citizens in the devolved countries at a disadvantage?
Abbreviations: AICD, automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator; CABG, coronary artery bypass grafting; CAD, coronary artery disease; MINAP, Myocardial Infarction Audit Project; NICE, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence; NSF, National Service Framework; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention
Keywords: cardiac service provision; national; variations
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A report from a British Cardiac Society working group has shown that the provision of cardiac services in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland varies considerably. Could one effect of devolution of the UK be a disparate application of cardiological resources to the disadvantage of citizens in the devolved countries?
While the National Service Framework (NSF) for coronary artery disease (CAD)1 has heralded tangible improvements in cardiac services across England, these changes are not so apparent in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland where the NSF had no mandate. Similarly, the Myocardial Infarction Audit Project (MINAP) and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) have driven change in England, but in Scotland, for example, these instruments do not apply. Predictably this has generated concern that the effect of devolution may have been to allow the development of different management priorities and thereby potentially to disadvantage citizens with cardiac disease
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