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Before the pandemic, we needed to get a grip on heart failure. However, the pandemic has complicated the heart failure revival due to the burden of COVID-19 and the by-product of patients with long-term conditions, particularly cardiovascular. Patients did not regularly see their doctors or nurses throughout the pandemic, creating a backlog of people waiting to be seen like we have never seen before. There is a backlog of people who have missed their regular appointments, check-ups, investigations, and treatments and those who are either symptomatic without a diagnosis or have had a diagnosis and have not had regularity and frequency in their treatment post-diagnosis.

As a health system, we need to pick up from where we were before the pandemic. Utilise what we learned when we had to innovate at speed during the Pandemic and use this to build a more efficient and robust set of processes.

We know nearly all our patients are in the secondary prevention space. These people have one or numerous other cardiovascular-related conditions and now also need to manage a diagnosis of heart failure. When we ask them what they want to change, they always come up with these four points. Firstly, they want greater recognition of heart failure symptoms in primary care. Secondly, they feel that if they had been appropriately tested, their quality of life would, in many cases, have been better. Thirdly, they tell us that it is essential to have access to a multidisciplinary team managed by heart failure specialists. Fourthly, both the transition and discharge from the multidisciplinary team to primary care could have been done better in many cases, especially around communication with them and between the different healthcare teams.

In collaboration with a member of our Clinical Advisory Board GP, Dr Clare Taylor MBE, who is also an NIHR Clinical Researcher at the University of Oxford and patient insights, we created a simple, memorable and relevant acronym that perfectly described one of the critical challenges patients had pre or post-diagnosis. We developed the BEAT methodology, or B.E.A.T. BEAT stands for Breathlessness, Exhaustion, Ankle swelling, Time for a simple blood test or Time to tell your GP or Nurse. Pre-diagnosis is vital as it describes the critical symptoms of heart failure and the action of informing your GP or nurse that maybe they should test for heart failure. Post diagnosis, the acronym also describes the critical symptoms of decompensating heart failure. This is important when a patient manages their heart failure because it is essential to inform their doctor or nurse if their symptoms worsen.

The BEAT mythology is supported by patients, heart failure specialists, primary care doctors, and nurses because it is simple and understandable. Furthermore, it works in all domains of secondary prevention because it either highlights a potential diagnosis of heart failure or works towards better managing symptomatic heart failure.

Recently, the NHS ran a national disease awareness campaign surrounding heart attacks in England. We partnered with them on this campaign, where the NHS recognised the BEAT methodology.

The BEAT methodology came off the back of patient needs. Its adoption is increasing both across the medical profession and among patients. Our overall ambition is for BEAT to be recognised by all, just like FAST (Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulties and Time) is for stroke. It highlights the appropriate stakeholders to think: could it be heart failure and, therefore, should I test? Testing is the backbone of better outcomes for patients.

The BeatHF campaign was born. It’s not only a memorable acronym describing the common symptoms of heart failure and what to do if you have them prior to any diagnosis, but let’s BEAT heart failure. 

It has become a rallying point for “BEATing heart failure” supported by patients, families, healthcare teams and many more stakeholders.

Read our BEAT HF National Campaign Report 2023 by clicking the image below.

The campaign covers the main areas of concern for the charity

• Pre-diagnosis awareness of heart failure
• Diagnosis of heart failure
• Getting to the specialist heart failure team
• Treatments and care
• Self-management, managing heart failure at home

Cornerstone documents include:

National Campaign Report 2023

Patient Charter

Living well with heart failure report 2022

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