UCLPartners named as one of six AHSNs to win AF Association Healthcare Pioneer Award

The AF Association is a UK charity that focuses on raising awareness of AF by providing information and support materials for patients and medical professionals involved in detecting, diagnosing and managing AF. Each year, the AF Association Healthcare Pioneer awards recognise those who demonstrate excellent clinical practice and the development of AF services to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

The other AHSN projects recognised amongst the 17 winners were:

• East Midlands AHSN, for work in partnership with East Midlands Clinical Network and 19 Clinical Commissioning Groups, preventing an estimated 167 strokes, 56 deaths, secure health and care cost efficiencies of £3.45million per year.
• Health Innovation Manchester, for supporting NHS Tameside and Glossop CCG, facilitating pharmacy-led clinical reviews in 38 GP practices to detect and optimise treatment for those with AF.
• Health Innovation Network, for supporting Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust to trial mobile ECG devices. These were used in in community clinics, domiciliary settings and at awareness events. Opportunistic testing was also conducted by community podiatrists.
• Oxford AHSN, for working with Buckinghamshire CCG to improve therapy for a patient cohort with complex needs that had not been met by existing anticoagulation pathways.
• Eastern AHSN, for work with The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Foundation Trust, providing mobile ECG devices which contributed to 49 patients newly diagnosed with AF and 44 patients started on anticoagulation therapy.

The overarching national AHSN programme was independently recognised for its achievements since it was established in 2016.  The programme has focused efforts across the entire AF pathway, and has distributed 6,000 digital AF detection devices across the NHS , and is working to address variation in anticoagulation prescribing by  assisting CCGs to deliver a new model of care which utilises anticoagulation expertise to provide bespoke education and support to primary care prescribers.

The awards took place during the AF Association Global AF Aware Week Parliamentary Event, held within the Palace of Westminster.