Our team includes specialist nurses in heart failure and a consultant cardiologist with specialist interest in heart failure. We care for patients suffering from advanced/chronic and decompensated heart failure. We work closely with other consultant cardiologists, specialist cardiac nurses and cardiac physiologists to provide a holistic service to our patients.
Who do we see?
Any eligible patient who has a GP in Buckinghamshire. This means that we have patients who may be under cardiologists in hospitals in neighbouring counties.
Inpatient service
We see all new patients who’ve been admitted to hospital with heart failure and provide care to patients on our coronary care unit and on general wards across the Trust’s hospital sites.
Heart failure clinics
We have 2 consultant-led and at least 10 nurse-led clinics per week for patients with heart failure. These clinics are held at Wycombe and Stoke Mandeville hospitals.
In the clinics we assess your progress, prescribe, adjust and monitor your heart failure medications. We help to improve your prognosis by providing prompt life-saving therapy. We also teach you how to manage your heart condition and reducing the impact of symptoms. We also support families and carers who are a key part of your healthcare team.
We work closely with our adult community healthcare teams, GPs, other cardiologists, practice nurses, palliative care teams, social care services and cardiac rehabilitation teams. The service also links in with other specialist teams offering treatments for diabetes, respiratory and kidney disorders and psychological needs.
One Stop Clinics for newly suspected heart failure
We run one stop clinics for new patients with suspected heart failure and who have a highly abnormal blood test (NT-pro BNP level >2000pg/ml). We aim to see you within 2 weeks of the referral. This is led by Dr Mayooran Shanmuganathan, Consultant Cardiologist and is held at both Wycombe and Stoke Mandeville Hospitals. It offers several diagnostic tests including blood tests, echocardiogram, ECG and chest X-ray on the same day of your appointment with the Consultant Cardiologist. At the end of the clinic, if you’ve been diagnosed with heart failure, you’ll be prescribed the medications you need and will be offered a follow-up appointment.
Intravenous Furosemide lounge
This is a nurse-led clinic for patients with heart failure in the community who require intravenous (injections) of diuretics (Furosemide) to help get rid of excess fluid (which is a common symptom in heart failure). This reduces the need for you to be admitted to hospital.
Please note: patients attending this clinic need to be mobile and be able to get themselves to hospital via public or private transport.