NHS Launches Campaign to Help People Spot Heart Attacks After Rise in Admissions

Medics take a patient from an ambulance into the Royal London Hospital in London on Jan. 19, 2021. Tolga Akmen /AFP via Getty Images

NHS England has launched a campaign to teach people common heart attack signs, as admissions in England rise by more 7,000 compared to the year before.

NHS figures released on Tuesday show that there were more than 84,000 hospital heart attack admissions in England during 2021–22, up by more than 7,000 compared to the previous year when fewer people came forward for care during COVID-19 lockdowns.

The NHS said that admissions for heart attacks have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Cardiovascular disease is the second biggest killer in England.

The data were released as health chiefs launched a campaign urging those with symptoms to seek help, as part of a push to teach people about the common signs of a heart attack that they say are often dismissed or ignored.

From this week, an NHS advert will run encouraging people to call 999 as soon as they experience symptoms of a heart attack.

Professor Nick Linker, a cardiologist and NHS national clinical director for heart disease, said, “Cardiovascular disease causes one in four deaths across the country, so it is vital that people are aware of the early signs of a heart attack.”

Record Backlog

Dr. Clare Craig, a consultant pathologist who has carried out extensive research into COVID-19 with HART, told The Epoch Times that the data pointed to consequences from lockdown policies. She also called for more investigation into COVID-19 vaccines.

“We know that people did not attend the emergency department for heart attacks in 2021 and there was a rise in cardiac arrests at that time suggesting that lives were lost as a result,” she said.

“People didn’t attend because of policies including isolation requirements as well as propagandised fear that made people frightened to attend,” she added.

“There was a clear stepwise increase in cardiac arrest calls that began in spring 2021 with the rollout of the COVID vaccines. The role of policies that decreased attendance as well as the role of COVID vaccinations on heart disease both need proper investigation,” said Dr. Craig.

The NHS backlog skyrocketed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, and the NHS’s attempt to clear the backlog has been further hampered over the past nine months as doctors, nurses, ambulance staff, and other health care workers went on strike over pay and conditions.

At the end of May, a record 7.47 million people were on the waiting list, up from 4.5 million in May 2019.

According to NHS England, around 778,000 hospital appointments and nearly half a million staff shifts have been disrupted because of the industrial actions.

Ambulances took an average of 31 minutes and 50 seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes, and sepsis.

High Above Expected Levels

In July 2020, researchers at the University of Oxford, working with NHS Digital, found that by the end of May that same year there had been about 5,000 fewer admissions with heart attacks in 2020 than would be expected, suggesting that many patients have missed out on lifesaving treatment.

In June this year, the British Heart Foundation published an analysis that said that nearly “100,000 more people with cardiovascular disease than expected have died since the start of the pandemic in England.”

That means that there have been over 500 additional deaths a week involving cardiovascular disease.

“There have been more excess deaths involving cardiovascular conditions than any other disease groups in this analysis – a total of 96,540 since 21st March 2020,” the foundation said, using data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.

It said that deaths from COVID-19 have since fallen year-on-year, but that the number of deaths involving cardiovascular disease have remained high above expected levels.

Lily Zhou contributed to this report.