Together we can beat heart disease

Do you live in West Yorkshire and have been told you are at risk of developing cardiovascular disease? Then you are in the right place.

We are working with GPs and other health and care professionals across West Yorkshire to help reduce the impact of cardiovascular disease. Together we are supporting the West Yorkshire Healthy Hearts initiative to save lives by helping to prevent people from having a heart attack or stroke.

The project is delivered by Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber working in partnership with West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership and local NHS organisations in Leeds, Wakefield, Harrogate and district, North Kirklees, Greater Huddersfield, Bradford district and Craven.

Our initiative aims:

to contribute to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease including heart attacks and strokes in our area by over 10%
to help prevent 800 heart attacks and 350 strokes over the course of the programme
to save the local health economy more than £12 million

So far, the initiative has achieved:

As of April 2023, 40,976 additional patients had been added to the hypertension register and 34,812 additional patients were treated (net 28,713 patients) since the project started in January 2019.
For cholesterol, in total, 16,504 patients were switched from a low intensity to high intensity statin by April 2023 compared with the baseline of October 2019.
As of June 2023, 68.56% of patients are treated to target for hypertension in West Yorkshire, up from 62.94% in June 2022.
As of June 2023, 31.48% of patients are treated to target for cholesterol in West Yorkhisre, up from 24.24% in June 2022.
As of June 2023, 90.48% of patients with Atrial Fibrillation are being treated with anticoagulation drug therapy, up from 89.08% in June 2022.

This website hosts a number of resources for both patients and healthcare professionals including information leaflets, lifestyle change information, treatment guidance and clinical searches.

Where Healthy Hearts began

This website follows the success of Healthy Hearts in Bradford, who shared learning with colleagues across West Yorkshire. The video below covers the history of this project and its key successes.

In West Yorkshire, more than 600,000 people are affected by high blood pressure (hypertension) - a leading cause of heart disease and stroke.

We estimate that 256,000 people (9.8%) have high blood pressure but remain undiagnosed, while 60,517 people have an irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation) and nearly 49,000 people have experienced a stroke or mini-stroke (TIA).

9.8%of people in West Yorkshire have undiagnosed high blood pressure

60,000 people have an irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation)

49,000people have experienced a stroke or mini-stroke

The challenge

One in ten people in England lives with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Cardiovascular disease is one of the main causes of death and disability in the UK, but often it can be prevented by leading a healthy lifestyle.

Too many people are still living with undetected, high-risk conditions such as high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, and atrial fibrillation (AF) that can lead to cardiovascular disease including heart attacks and strokes.

We are working with our NHS partners to provide extra support to primary care including treatment guidance and clinical searches to help identify people who need additional support alongside advice on leading a healthier lifestyle.

This website provides a central hub of clinical resources to support and facilitate the work of GP practices. These have been developed in collaboration with clinicians from across the region, building on local practice and national and international guidance.

People falling into a broken heart

Our response

We aim to help people keep their heart healthy and lower their chances of having a heart attack or stroke. To do this, the Healthy Hearts website shares practical information on:

how to live healthily and stay well
how and where you can check your blood pressure
conditions that can increase the risk of having a heart attack or stroke, including:

- high blood pressure

- atrial fibrillation

- high cholesterol

- type 2 diabetes

how you can help to manage and control these conditions to lower your CVD risk

RESULTS