NHS Wales has launched a consultation document for a programme of service improvements to reduce the incidence of, and death rate from, heart disease.

The Cardiac Delivery Plan for 2013–16 focuses on prevention, early diagnosis and treatment, care plans and reducing hospital admissions.

The three-month consultation is in line with NHS Wales’ ‘Together For Health’ strategy to promote personalised and integrated healthcare.

Coronary heart disease affects 9% of adults in Wales (and 33% of adults aged over 65), causing 4,700 deaths per year.

The document points to causal factors such as smoking and obesity, but also notes the need for more timely and well-integrated cardiac care.

A major aspect of the proposed strategy is that Local Health Boards will work with social services to develop “a care plan for those with long-term cardiac conditions” to ensure that “care is co-ordinated between community and hospital”, meeting each patient’s “individual treatment and support needs”.

The care plan will be shared with the patient and reviewed on an ongoing basis, with the aim of ensuring that care services “are compliant with national standards and guidelines” and are “safe, sustainable and available as locally as possible”.

The document also states that cardiac services should be provided “increasingly” within primary care.

Three performance measures are proposed: the percentage of patients treated in line with the cardiac disease waiting time target; the number of emergency admissions, readmissions and bed days; and the percentage of patients who have a care plan.

The consultation will close on 26 October 2012.

Royal Philips Electronics is developing a new range of healing environments at a new dedicated research facility at its Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Adding to Philips’ portfolio of solutions for hospital care, the healing environments use technology to reduce patient stress, accelerate recovery and improve treatment outcomes.

The new project reflects the emergence of a generation of patients who are well-informed about their condition and exercise their power of choice in finding the hospital that best meets their needs.

One of the concepts under development is a PE-CT uptake room (pictured) that uses calming lighting, video images and sounds to reduce the stress levels of patients awaiting an oncology scan.

Other well-advanced projects include environments focused on preventing delirium in intensive care units.

The new healing environment solutions will be trialled in the facility’s Hospital Area, which simulates the conditions of real hospitals.

“There is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that patient-friendly comforting environments not only reduce anxiety levels but also promote the healing process itself,” said Henk van Houten, General Manager of Philips Research.

“The opening of the Hospital Area is a clear expression of our commitment to this important new area of healthcare research, which leverages Philips’ unique expertise in healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle.”

Philips’s existing products in the healing environments field include the Ambient Experience solution for medical imaging and A&E departments, which uses lighting, sound and images to reduce the stress levels of children undergoing a scan.

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is a diversified healthcare company specialising in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare.

A new CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device from Philips Respironics could enable people with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) to manage their own condition more effectively.

The new REMstar Pro (pictured) with AutoIQ is able to track the patient’s sleep breathing over several nights, establish or readjust to a set airway pressure, and check back periodically to adjust the pressure as needed – without clinician intervention.

The first phase of the AutoIQ mode, Auto-Trial, uses an algorithm for a total of 30 days to establish the patient’s treatment needs. At the end of the phase, the device analyses the data to identify and deliver the best airway pressure for the patient.

Following that, Auto-Check checks back every 30 hours to see how the patient is progressing and to automatically adjust the pressure if needed.

Auto-Trial days can be saved to reassess therapy at a later date if the patient’s physical condition or sleeping environment changes.

Throughout the process, AutoIQ keeps the care team informed of the patient’s sleep breathing performance and CPAP compliance.

“REMstar Pro with AutoIQ demonstrates our ongoing pledge to providers and their patients to be their ally in better sleep and breathing,” said John Frank, General Manager for Sleep and Respiratory Care, Philips Home Healthcare Solutions.

“By providing intelligent solutions and advancements in technology, we are shaping the future of sleep therapy.”

Philips Respironics is a unit of Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands, a market leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare.