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Cardiology in focus
Highlights of the British Cardiovascular Society’s Future of Cardiology Working Group paper
  1. Sarah Hudson
  2. On behalf of the British Cardiovascular Society"s Future of Cardiology Working Group
  1. Cardiology, Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Sarah Hudson, Cardiology, Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol BS2 8HW, UK; sarahhudsonuk{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2020-318250

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    The COVID-19 pandemic presented the NHS with a unique set of challenges which, although immensely disruptive, has also enabled a speed of adaption, adoption and transformation that has never previously been possible. It is essential that the positive changes emerging from the COVID-19 crisis are embedded into routine practice and that services are developed to be sustainable and resilient to future pandemics. To facilitate this, the British Cardiovascular Society set up a Future of Cardiology Working Group with the brief of capturing service developments precipitated by the COVID-19 crisis that could be adopted across the NHS in a new model of cardiovascular care and outline what areas should be developed further in the future. This article aimed to highlight some of the key recommendations of The Future of Cardiology report,1 and box 1 lists the principles of service delivery underlying these. It should be noted that many of the changes that have been put in place during the pandemic, and which the Future of Cardiology Working Group seeks to promote, already featured as recommendations in the Topol Review2 on equipping the NHS for the digital future and in the NHS Long Term Plan.3

    Box 1

    Principles of service delivery

    1. Cardiology services should be delivered on the basis of networks or systems of care that are fully and seamlessly integrated from community to tertiary care.

    2. Systems of care should be designed with a patient-centric approach with an emphasis on the use of technology to facilitate diagnostics, monitoring and communication at all levels.

    3. Systems of care should be value-based, outcome-focused learning organisations. No patient should be disadvantaged and the inequality gap should be narrowed and not widened.

    4. Primary/community care identification, coding and surveillance of cardiovascular patients should be standardised and improved.

    5. Virtual consultation should become the norm in both primary and secondary care for those …

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @SarahHudsonUK

    • Correction notice This article has been corrected since it was published Online First. The on behalf of statement was corrected.

    • Contributors SH produced this summary based on the working groups paper, to which she and all the listed members of the working group contributed. This summary has been agreed by the working group’s members and is therefore submitted by SH on behalf of the working group - Tootie Bueser, Sarah Clarke, Paul Kalra, Alan Keys, Trudie Lobban, Nick Linker, Nav Masani, Keith Pearce, Chris Plummer, Simon Ray, Iain Simpson, Alistair Slade and Raj Thakkar

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement A patient representative was an active member of the working group.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.