National Lipids Programme

As part of the National Lipids Programme we are working with South East London ICS and South West London ICS on various initiatives to support lipids management services.

We are supporting our colleagues in primary and secondary care with various lipid transformation projects. Further information can be found below on our lipid management work across south east London and south west London.

South East London

We have worked with South East London ICS on a number of initiatives to improve management of lipids. Our projects include:

Predict and Prevent

A programme to optimise lipids treatment in patients with high cholesterol at risk of cardiovascular disease. Cohort 1 of this programme has worked with six primary care networks (PCNs) across Greenwich, Lambeth and Southwark using the University College London Partners' framework and delivering PCN-wide webinars to upskill staff. A second cohort with a further 6 PCNs across the remaining 3 south east London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley and Lewisham were completed in 2023.

Access the project evaluation report

Access a summary report of the project's highlights

Protect Your Heart

The lipid transformation plan for south east London has a focus on the development of primary care staff in order to optimise the management of lipid therapies. We are working with acute sector partners to establish a new service across the boroughs served by Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Trust, Kings College Hospital and Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust via a grant from Novartis.

The main objective of this collaborative working partnership is to improve the quality of care for patients and support the early identification, review, and medical optimisation of patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in response to the needs of south east London. Three senior specialist pharmacists and a clinic coordinator will work alongside the existing multi-disciplinary teams and provide specialist support and training to colleagues across primary care. The project will run until 2025.

Bexley Community Lipids Hub

A pharmacist-led community lipids clinic that has been set up in Clocktower PCN in Bexley borough. The work is funded through the Innovation for Healthcare Inequalities Programme (InHIP) and has a focus on secondary prevention in people who have already experienced a cardiac episode.

Greenwich and Lewisham Community Lipid Hubs

Built on the previous Predict and Prevent initiative, the Greenwich and Lewisham Community Lipids Hubs are CVD community-based clinics that have been established to improve access to lipid therapies and identification of patients requiring cardiovascular risk reduction, thereby reducing pressure on secondary care referrals. The hubs are funded through a grant from the System Transformation Fund. As well as optimising lipid management, the hubs will upskill primary care healthcare practitioners by identifying lipid management knowledge gaps and provide training to supplement their understanding.

South West London

We have worked with South West London ICS on a number of initiatives to improve management of lipids. Our projects include:

Pathway Transformation project

We have supported South West London ICS on the delivery of their Pathway Transformation funded lipid programme of work. This consisted of three different elements all aiming to identify people at risk of CVD and to optimise their lipid treatment. The first element was the creation of a lipid specialist pharmacist role, based at St Georges Hospital Trust, where the pharmacist acts as a link between primary and secondary care. This enabled the second element, working with 11 PCNs on a testbed project to optimise lipid care and identification, through risk stratification and upskilling primary care. The final element was to carry out community testing using Point of Care testing machines.

Access an academic poster of this project presented at the 2023 Heart UK Conference.

Community-based lipids clinic

A community-based lipids clinic has been set up in south west London with the aim of reducing incidence of cardiovascular events, reducing patient waiting times, and improving patient pathways. This approach aligns with the south west London long-term ambition of implementing a population health management approach to lipid management. The clinic is based at St John’s Therapy Centre and delivered by a CVD specialist pharmacist from St George’s Hospital. The pharmacist role also includes providing education and training in lipid management to the primary care workforce based at St John’s.

Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Decathlon

We are supporting South West London ICS to deliver an evaluation of a project called the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Decathlon. This is a ten-week structured education prevention programme aimed at those at risk of CVD. Participants on the programme, also known as decathletes, attend weekly education sessions and within their teams collaborate to discover how to best reduce the risks through theory sessions, games, discussion, and a weekly 45-minute physical activity session including a variety of sports. Decathletes compete in teams to achieve increased activity levels in between sessions and to win ‘Sweatcoins,’ which allows participants to claim prizes. Participants are also signposted to other relevant local physical and mental health initiatives.