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To find out more about our work piloting the South East London Health Hearts project and our aim to reduce cardiovascular related events, please get in touch.
Contact usSouth East London Healthy Hearts
Background
Data from CVDPREVENT shows that South East London Integrated Care Board is below the England average for indicators relating to major cardiovascular conditions, including hypertension, cholesterol, atrial fibrillation, and chronic kidney disease.
Improvements to the delivery model of care for patients with cardiovascular conditions will enable faster optimisation of treatment for patients and increase efficiencies within the system. This has been identified by the SEL System Sustainability Programme as a priority area to improve the financial position of the ICB in future years.
This proposal aligns with NHS England's 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance, as it:
- Supports the intention to prioritise prevention and proactive care as part of effective population health management through the GP contract.
- Delivers the ambition to prevent cardiovascular events by treating more people to target levels of blood pressure and lipid control, in line with national policy and aiming for best performance nationally.
- Helps drive improvements in operational and clinical productivity.
- Reduces inequalities in line with the Core20PLUS5 approach for adults.
- Aims to improve patients' access to general practice.
- Contributes to the development of neighbourhood health services.
Project overview
The Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London are working closely with South East London Integrated Care Board and Clinical Effectiveness South East London to pilot new pathways for patients with cardiovascular disease risk conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, chronic kidney disease (CKD), hypertension and elevated lipids to be optimised on treatments faster. The project will be piloted at three integrated neighbourhood and/or primary care network sites from Autumn 2025. It will be expanded to further sites throughout 2026.
We aim to reduce the growing number of heart attacks, strokes, and the need for interventions such as transplantation, amputation, and dialysis by intervening earlier and achieving full medical optimisation more quickly than is currently the case. By improving how care is delivered, we can also reduce costs and realise financial efficiencies across the local health system.
Primary care teams will be supported by the HIN to introduce new pathways for patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, CKD, hypertension, and those with high lipid levels. The process will include up to four six-week cycles of pathway review to identify opportunities to improve quality and reduce inefficiencies. Innovations such as point of care testing machines to speed up blood results will also be explored throughout the process.
Training to upskill primary care staff in CVD care, led by local experts, will play a major role in the pilot. Once the initial pilot sites have completed the pilot, we plan to roll out the Healthy Hearts project to more sites across south east London.
