Call for equitable EU access to cardiac treatments:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
EU governments need to step up efforts to ensure that patients suffering from heart conditions have equitable access to reliable innovative treatments. That was the appeal being made by the Health First Europe alliance of patients, healthcare workers, academics, experts and industry on World Heart Day 2004 (September 26). Investment in new and innovative technologies is necessary to stay ahead of the disease, the HFE says. Cardiac resynchronisation therapy, for example, reduces mortality, improves quality of life and reduces the number of hospitalisation days and the financial costs to healthcare systems. Each year, over 600,000 cases of heart failure are diagnosed, with some 330,000 new cases annually in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain alone.