'Know Your Pulse' Campaign
Heart Rhythm Week in action!
Free pulse checks and information event at the Bristol Royal Infirmary raises awareness of heart rhythm problems.
Bristol: Staff at The Heart Institute of the Bristol Royal Infirmary, have held a week long pulse check event to show the importance of ‘knowing you pulse’ that could, in turn, save your life.
Trudie Lobban MBE, Founder and Trustee of Arrhythmia Alliance, said, “Finding out about arrhythmias early, could improve a patient's chance of finding a successful treatment and could save their life. That is why Arrhythmia Alliance wants to put pulse into practice and ensure people have their pulse checked when they visit their GP surgery. We encourage people to know their pulse with our simple four step guide available free from www.knowyourpulse.org
‘Knowing Your Pulse’ is one of the easiest ways to detect a cardiac arrhythmia. A cardiac arrhythmia is caused by a heartbeat that is too fast, too slow, or irregular. It is important to ‘Know Your Pulse’.
A message from Sir Roger Moore:
'Know Your Pulse' by Sir Roger Moore - click here to watch Roger take his pulse!
Click here to view the Pulse Check Guide and learn why it is important to Know Your Pulse and how take it.
The ‘Know Your Pulse’ campaign was jointly launched by AFA and Arrhythmia Alliance during Arrhythmia Awareness 2009.
The Know Your Pulse campaign raises public and medical awareness of the pulse as one of the most effective ways of identifying potential cardiac arrhythmias. To this end we are seeking Department of Health endorsement which will ensure a manual pulse check is part of a routine medical appointment.
December 8th 2010
Arrhythmia Alliance and Atrial Fibrillation Association held a Parliamentary event supporting the ‘Know Your Pulse’ campaign. Hosted by Nadhim Zahawi MP, speakers included, Simon Burns MP, Professor Roger Boyle, Department of Health, Dr Matthew Fay GP and Clinical Lead for the NHS Improvements and Mrs Trudie Lobban MBE and CEO of Arrhythmia Alliance and Atrial Fibrillation Association.
What is the point of screening with pulse checks?
- 2007 Department of Health figures estimated there were 600,000+ diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation (AF) patients in England. Today this figure is suspected to be closer to 1 million and growing.
- 200,000 newly diagnosed AF patients per year in the UK, and this is rising due to an aging population and increased numbers surviving conditions which predispose them to AF.
- AF consumes 1 % of the total NHS annual budget.
- At the age of 40, we all have a 1 in 4 life time risk of developing AF.
- Reduction in stroke (18% of strokes being associated with AF -the most common heart rhythm disturbance)
- Reduction in mortality among patients with other co-morbidities such as heart failure, hypertension etc.
- Detection of previously unknown arrhythmias, enabling patients to receive timely and effective diagnosis and treatment.
You too, can play an active role in this campaign. We are asking all members to write to their own GP and the Chief Executive of your own Cardiovascular Network (list available below) to ask the following questions:
- Have manual pulse checks been incorporated into your own 40-74 year old Health Checks or in the annual flu inoculation programme? If so, do you have any information of the number of arrhythmia patients newly identified?
- Do you offer pulse checks as part of your routine GP service?
Evidence on the simplicity, cost-effectiveness, high impact and cost-savings of pulse checks is available from the NHS Improvement website.
Atrial Fibrillation Association (AFA) and Arrhythmia Alliance (A-A) provide Department of Health endorsed resources including Pulse Check Cards, either via the website: www.knowyourpulse.org or through contacting Jo Jerrome: +44 (0) 1789 451837 for free paper copies. The AFA website also offers medically approved booklets, toolkits and fact sheets.
To assist you in this please download and print a sample letter.
Download Sample Letter
Download list of Local Directors of Public Health