The growing prevalence of heart failure threatens the sustainability of our healthcare systems – concerted action is required, yet few policymakers recognise the magnitude of the heart failure challenge, both in terms of its economic and societal impact.
Heart failure policy and practice in Europe aims to better equip and further empower national advocates across Europe with a clear picture of central leadership and overall performance in terms of major pillars of health services, treatment and care. It provides a comprehensive analysis of national policy issues in heart failure, key gaps in care and examples of best practice investigated in 11 European countries.
This work, which is the natural successor to The handbook of multidisciplinary and integrated heart failure care, was developed based on the literature and input from more than 50 heart failure experts across Europe. It includes a pan-European report and 11 standalone country profiles, each with five urgent actions needed to improve the lives of people living with heart failure.
Despite the urgency of heart failure, advocates across Europe face persistent barriers in mounting political engagement efforts. This project seeks to challenge these barriers in greater national specificity than ever before. It provides an evidence-based, consensus-driven tool to help advocates demand at least an answer from national leaders, and ideally an offer of partnership.
The work is based on a list of elements for consideration in each country: the HF policy and practice indicators. These indicators fall into two domains: policy indicators are those that focus on the status and comprehensiveness of HF policies and guidance, while practice indicators aim to capture the reality of clinical practice.
Policy indicators:
Practice indicators:
These indicators were used to investigate the reality of HF policy and care delivery in Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
Click the map to sort the case studies by country or view all below
In addition to the Project Advisory Group, national experts in each country shared their knowledge in interviews and supported the development of the respective country profiles.
The development of Heart failure policy and practice in Europe was made possible with financial support from Novartis Pharma and AstraZeneca.