South East London Healthy Hearts
Background
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors such as hypertension, high cholesterol, atrial fibrillation and chronic kidney disease are often not identified and managed quickly enough, leading to poorer outcomes for patients and increased pressure on health services.
Data from CVDPREVENT shows that South East London Integrated Care Board is below the England average for indicators relating to cardiovascular risk.
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.
Healthy Hearts was developed to improve the management of cardiovascular, renal and metabolic (CVRM) conditions. Using Lean methodology, the programme aims to reduce unnecessary steps, improve treatment optimisation and support more efficient use of primary care resources.
Project overview
The Health Innovation Network South London is working with South East London Integrated Care Board, Clinical Effectiveness South East London, King’s Health Partners and primary care teams across south east London to develop and test the Healthy Hearts model.
The programme is designed to improve the management of cardiovascular risk factors through proactive reviews for people living with one or more CVRM conditions. It combines pathway redesign, workforce development and innovation, including point-of-care testing, digital tools and supported self-management.
Healthy Hearts aims to:
- Improve the management of cardiovascular risk factors.
- Improve care across multiple risk factors rather than reviewing single conditions in isolation.
- Increase the number of patients receiving proactive care and treatment.
- Develop an evidence-based model that can be scaled across south east London.
- Improve patient outcomes and help reduce future growth in CVD-related healthcare costs.
Project outputs
Healthy Hearts is delivering a range of tools, resources and learning to support implementation and future scale-up, including:
- A Healthy Hearts clinical pathway.
- A suite of digital tools, including patient identification searches, clinical templates and evaluation reporting functionality.
- Education, training and implementation resources for primary care teams.
- Testing of innovations, including point-of-care testing and digital solutions.
- An evaluation programme assessing clinical, operational and economic impact.
As of June 2026, six Wave 1 sites covering a population of more than 250,000 people had been onboarded across south east London. Evaluation is underway to assess whether the pathway can deliver faster, more complete and more proactive management of cardiovascular risk factors, with learning from Wave 1 already informing future rollout.
Resources
Healthy Hearts implementation resources: Education, training and implementation resources for primary care teams
Find out more
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.