Royal United Hospitals Bath | Cardiology Department

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Heart Failure Service

About Us

The Specialist Heart Failure Team are involved in the care of heart failure patients within the hospital setting, providing inpatient and outpatient care.

Our role includes:

Confirm diagnosis
Provide education to patients
Initiate and titrate evidence based treatments
Organising relevant investigations
Implementing interventional treatments, including specialised pacemakers & defibrillators
Symptom monitoring
Emotional support
Referral to appropriate community teams (BaNES and Wiltshire)
Provide support and advice to colleagues/clinicians
Teaching and education to health care professionals
Involvement in advance care planning (Dorothy House referrals)

Ambulatory Furosemide service for Heart Failure patients

The Heart Failure nurses run an ambulatory service, where intravenous Furosemide can be administered as a day case.

The patient will need be known to the RUH, BaNES or Wiltshire community Heart Failure services AND have a confirmed diagnosis of heart failure.

The service is delivered on the Cardiac Day Case Unit (CDCU), B56. The Heart Failure nurses will clinically assess the patient face to face on the unit, prescribe the required Furosemide and the infusion will be administered by the nursing team based on the unit.

Please contact:

Tel: 01225 525587
Bleep: # 7717
Or
Email:ruh-tr.heartfailurenurses@nhs.net

Heart Failure Support group

A 6-month programme, running one session per month. This is a programme for heart failure patients to meet, share experiences and gain education from health care professionals about their condition. This group is intended to empower patients to learn about their condition and take a leading role in managing their condition.

Each session focuses on a different area of heart failure with a presentation. Some weeks we invite guest speakers who specialise in the chosen topic, to best support education for patients.

Each session we provide coffee, tea and a snack and an opportunity for patients to socialise and get to know each other.

Session 1: General overview of symptoms and patients getting to know each other
Session 2: what heart failure is (including aetiologies, signs and symptoms, pharmacological/non-pharmacological treatments and monitoring requirements
Session 3: Heart Failure medications with a Cardiology Pharmacist as a guest speaker
Session 4: Healthy diet and lifestyle in heart failure with a Dietitian as a guest speaker
Session 5: Exercise in heart failure with a Cardiac Rehabilitation nurse as a guest speaker
Session 6: Overview of the sessions including a quiz to revise knowledge.

After the 6-month programme, we facilitate patients to independently arrange meet ups to continue supporting each other, if they wish. We have an email address where patients are welcome to contact us with non-clinical related queries, i.e. for education purposes.

Referral Criteria

Confirmed heart failure
Be able to attend face to face
Outpatient only (not actively under H@H)
Need to have been seen by a heart failure nurse or heart failure consultant and optimised on heart failure medications
Can arrange own transport
Independent with Activities of Daily Living
Can bring x1 carer/support/relative, if the room has capacity
No active decompensation

Referral Pathway

Please follow the link below, to access the criteria for new referrals from primary care.

Primary Care Heart Failure Diagnostic Pathway in Adults (PATH-012)

Please refer to the Heart Failure clinic via NHS e-referral services

The Specialist Heart Failure team

Our specialist team consists of Consultants, Specialist nurses and administrative staff.

Heart Failure Service Team From left to right: Cathy Samios (Heart failure specialist nurse HFSN) Emily Gibson (HFSN), Dr Tania Pawade (Heart failure consultant), Dr Oliver Watkinson (Heart failure consultant), Sophie Loud (HFSN), Cath Fee (HFSN)

Consultants:

Dr Oliver Watkinson
Dr Tanya Pawade
Dr Jacob Easaw

Specialist nursing team:

Catherine Fee
Sophie Loud
Emily Gibson
Cathy Samios

Contact details:

Specialist Heart Failure Nurses office: 01225 525587 or Bleep 7717
Cardiology outpatients: 01225 821534
Medical secretaries of consultants :

Dr Watkinson : 01225 825543

Dr Pawade and Dr Easaw : 01225 821937