CVDACTION – a smart data tool to help GP practices transform the prevention of cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of avoidable mortality, a major driver of health inequalities and is highly preventable. CVDACTION is a smart data tool to support GP practices and PCNs to optimise care in high-risk conditions and deliver a step change in preventive care.

The tool was developed by UCLPartners to help GP practices transform the prevention of cardiovascular disease. CVDACTION is being piloted and evaluated in 10 demonstrator sites in London and two additional ICBs across England. At the end of the demonstrator period, CVDACTION will be available for wider use.

You can find out more about the Health Innovation Network’s national CVD programme here.

Farwa Hasan, GP Partner – The Alton Practice

UCLPartners developed a tool called Size of the Prize to monitor key cardiovascular risk measurements in primary care and the data showed there is significant variation across England in terms of rates of optimisation for blood pressure and cholesterol.

With the data showing a gap in reaching people with greatest cardiovascular risk, coupled with primary care colleagues facing workplace pressures, CVDACTION was designed to support colleagues to identify which of their patients should be prioritised for care, enabling this work by breaking data down into manageable chunks.

The CVDACTION programme supports utilisation of the wider workforce, provides implementation support and offers a number of resources including digital tools to enable care. UCLPartners have been piloting this approach in 10 demonstrator sites in London and two additional ICBs across England. At the end of the demonstrator period, CVDACTION will be available for wider use.

Following roll out across 14 PCNs (ten in South West London and North West London and four in Mid and South Essex), baseline data shows the tool is successfully identifying large numbers of people at risk of CVD and in need of treatment optimisation. For example:

• Almost 600 patients across these PCNs with dangerously high blood pressure are not currently being treated to target.
• Over 3,300 with a high blood pressure are not currently treated to target.
• More than 5,000 patients who have diagnosed CVD are not on any lipid lowering therapy like a statin.
• Nearly 18,000 patients who have diagnosed CVD are not on the maximum high dose, high intensity lipid lowering therapy.

Three Primary Care Networks in North West London have now reviewed 620 patients from high-risk hypertension and lipids cohorts since clinical activity commenced late January.