We remain open and functioning to support patients with heart problems, although necessary changes have been made to follow government guidance to keep people safe. 

We continue to accept patient referrals for those with cardiac conditions or symptoms. This system will remain in place until 15th April 2020. At this time the situation with coroanrvirus will be re-assessed and changes will be made as needed. 

When we receive a referral, for now, you will receive an initial appointment by telephone or video link. Following this we will be able to assess whether you are safe to wait for further investigation or whether your condition is urgent and needs investigation and treatment requiring a visit in person to Exeter Heart. 

We will continue to provide services for urgent cases such as ECGs, echocardiograms, Holter monitors, exercise tests and cardiac MRIs up until the 15/4/2020. We will also continue to provide cardiac procedures in the cardiac catheter lab for urgent cases up to the same date of April 15th. We will continue to review the situation as government advice is released. 

This approach to assess all patients but only investigate and treat urgent cases is recommend by the British Cardiac Society and in line with Public Health England recommendations. 

To ensure the safety of all of our patients and staff all patients will be assessed for signs and symptoms of coronavirus over the phone and then again on the day they visit hospital. During hospital visits each patients symptoms and temperature will be assessed on arrival. For safety reasons any patients with a fever or persistent cough will be asked to return home.

To see a full size version of our current patient referral pathway during the coronavirus pandemic click here.

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The health and well-being of our patients is our top priority. To keep people safe and well we will be ensuring our services continue whenever possible and safe to do so. We know heart problems will remain a concern during the coronavirus outbreak. We will continue to monitor and respond to the latest advice to assist our patients in the best possible way.

Attending Appointments

We are currently screening everyone by phone who comes into our clinics to ensure we keep our patients, visitors and staff safe. This means anyone visiting or being treated at an Exeter Heart clinic will be asked a series of questions about their health.

We are currently continuing to provide clinics and investigations as normal to help treat and improve our patients heart problems during the coronavirus outbreak.

Telephone Appointments

We are happy and able to offer telephone appointments for patients that would prefer this option during the coming weeks.

Attending for Procedures

There will be additional screening for anyone undergoing procedures – if you are due to have a procedure with us, please expect your consultant or pre-assessment nurse to ask you detailed questions prior to your admission. If you have any symptoms that your doctor is concerned about, they may recommend postponing treatment.

If you have any questions about your upcoming clinic or procedure, please contact our secretarial team for guidance.

Coronavirus Symptoms

Public Health England (PHE) has outlined the symptoms of the coronavirus as follows:
1. A high temperature – you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
2. A new, continuous cough – this means you’ve started coughing repeatedly

When Not To Attend Hospital

Please do not attend your appointment for any reason if you have a high temperature (over 37.8 degrees) or have a new continuous cough or streaming nose or flu-like symptoms. If you do have these symptoms or anyone in your household does, please follow the latest guidance, more details can be found by clicking here.

Public Health England also has guidance.

Nuffield Hospital guidance can be found here.

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Recent media reports that ACE Inhibitor drugs (‘pril’ drugs, e.g., ramipril, lisinopril) and angiotensin receptor blockers (‘sartan’ drugs, e.g., candesartan, losartan) may increase the risk of death from novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection will provoke anxiety for many people taking these medications.

Patients are prescribed these medications for a number of reasons and for some people, particularly those with heart failure, stopping the drugs suddenly can lead to them becoming unwell. This can cause people to become more breathless and may create uncertainty about whether symptoms are due to infection (such as COVID-19), or to underlying health problems.

The evidence that these medications increase the risk of death is currently unconvincing: the reports may simply reflect the fact that people taking the drugs are more likely to have conditions that place them at high risk of severe COVID-19 infection.

We therefore advise people taking these medications to continue to take them. If they become unwell such that they need to seek medical help, the doctor at this point may advise stopping the drugs depending on their individual clinical condition.

This guidance has been agreed by the British Cardiac Society, the British Society of Hypertension, European Society of Hypertension and the Renal Association and all currently advise patients should continue treatment with ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers unless specifically advised to stop by their medical team.

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