National health strategies are common across Europe, and increasingly prioritise cardiovascular conditions such as heart failure. While this is a necessary step to improving heart failure diagnosis and care, many health systems are highly de-centralised; services are designed, commissioned and funded at a more local level. This allows for a targeted and responsive approach to healthcare delivery, helping ensure available services meet the specific needs of the local population. But it can also result in a disconnect between national ambitions and local realities. To bridge this gap, healthcare advocates and decision-makers alike must go beyond a national perspective, and consider how to best effect change locally.
In Spain, heart failure remains a significant health concern – affecting around 16% of people aged 75 or older, and costing the health system an estimated €2.5 billion annually. This led to the Spanish Ministry of Health introducing the National Cardiovascular Health Strategy in 2022, which includes specific recommendations for heart failure care. In doing so, Spain was and remains one of Europe’s leading countries in creating a comprehensive strategy for cardiovascular health; however, local implementation of recommended practices has proven challenging in many regions across the country.
To help bridge this implementation gap, the Heart Failure Policy Network collaborated with Spanish experts to develop a guide for healthcare decision-makers at regional and local levels. The new resource, A comprehensive approach to heart failure care in Spain: from national strategy to local reality, aims to support the delivery of best-practice care throughout Spain, in alignment with the national strategy, thereby improving the quality of life of people with condition and the efficiency of the health system as a whole. The guide is available to download in both English and Spanish.
The guide will be complemented by region-specific summaries, which are being developed for each of the 17 autonomous communities across the country. These summaries outline the cost and impact of heart failure hospitalisations in each region, and present international case studies illustrating effective diagnosis and care practices.
This suite of resources are poised to empower regional healthcare leaders, facilitating the translation of national recommendations into effective local practices, and ultimately enhancing outcomes for people living with heart failure across Spain.
