United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Boehringer Ingelheim, launch new cardio-diabetic outpatient service

As part of a collaborative working agreement between United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, a new cardio-diabetic outpatient service has been launched to help reduce recurring heart attacks in people with diabetes.

A cardio-diabetic outpatient service at Lincolnshire Heart Centre is helping reduce recurring heart attacks in people with diabetes by providing a holistic one-stop approach to patient care.

Under a collaborative working agreement between Boehringer Ingelheim and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT), a new cardio-diabetic in-reach and outpatient programme was created to streamline the service for patients with diabetes and recent heart attack.

The clinical teams led by Professor Kelvin Lee, Dr Bala Srinivasan and Prof Alun Roebuck set out to improve the outcomes of patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The doctors and nurses at the Lincolnshire Heart Centre and the Diabetes Unit at United Lincolnshire NHS Hospitals Trust have developed and established a new streamlined service to improve and optimise the management and care of patients with diabetes who have been admitted with a heart attack or acute coronary syndrome in our hospitals.

A previous project had highlighted that patient capacity was not always being met, leading to some patients being treated for the conditions separately, causing delays with repeated reviews, and missed opportunities for optimised care.

Now, working collaboratively during ward reviews, all eligible diabetic patients on cardiology wards receive input from both specialist teams, benefiting from cross-disciplinary knowledge that provides optimised medical therapy to compliment both conditions.

Professor Kelvin Lee, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Programme at ULHT, said: “Before launching the new service, we knew that many patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) with existing or newly diagnosed diabetes were not always being followed up in the separate cardiology or diabetes clinic, or by their GPs in primary care in a timely manner, nor had their cardiovascular-diabetic treatment subsequently optimised after being discharged.”

Professor Lee said that diabetes can be quite a daunting diagnosis for many patients, and for those who then also go on to have a heart attack or acute coronary syndrome. “The easier we can make it to help our patients manage their conditions the better to help prevent future emergency situations such as heart attack, heart failure or cardiac arrest,” Lee said.

Dr Carl Deaney, GP at Marsh Medical Practice who leads long term condition projects in his Primary Care Network, said: “Patients with ACS and diabetes often require GP appointments in addition to outpatient appointments following an acute event (such as a heart attack) to help manage their conditions and the associated symptoms.”

“Complimentary treatments that are optimised for both ACS and diabetes can help reduce the need for GP appointments, and better education for patients to help them manage both of the conditions simultaneously rather than separately which may inadvertently cause other issues.

Dr Christoph Zehendner, Medical Director at Boehringer Ingelheim said: “We are proud to support the NHS as it continues to design, deliver and evaluate innovative models of care to improve patient outcomes and respond to the secondary prevention challenge.

Since its inception in 2021, the cardio-diabetes service has now seen over 280 patients with diabetes following their heart attack or ACS, ensuring improved and optimised cardio-diabetes care. The service is being commissioned by ULHT to continue to provide this novel approach in healthcare for patients in Lincolnshire.