Heart patients denied pump that could give them an extra 15 years: NHS bosses ration access to £80,000 life-changing devices

• NHS guidelines ration access to the high tech ‘left ventricular assist devices’
• The heart pumps can dramatically improve the life expectancy of patients 
• The first LVAD pump was fitted to a patient in 2000 by Prof Stephen Westaby 
• Patients undergoing the surgery can face complications such as blood clots  

Thousands of people with heart failure could see their lives extended if the NHS allowed them to be fitted with a device currently reserved for those awaiting transplants, according to leading surgeons.

The doctors say it is a ‘scandal’ that heart-failure patients are being left to die by the effective ban on the use of the special pumps.

NHS guidelines state that ‘left ventricular assist devices’ (LVADs) can be implanted only in limited circumstances due to the cost of the operation to fit them – about £80,000 – and the potential complications they can cause, such as blood clots.

Ian Potts from Appleby, Cumbria who has survived for 10 years with his heart pump

The pumps can improve the efficiency of the patient’s heart and health 

But respected transplant surgeons Stephen Westaby, Stephan Schueler, Andre Simon and Pedro Caterino say such risks need to be weighed against the declining health of those with poorly treated heart failure.

In 2000, Professor Westaby implanted the first LVAD into a 61-year-old male patient called Peter Houghton, who went on to live for a further seven years.

Prof Westaby said: ‘Heart pumps can extend lives and ought to be offered to patients routinely. It’s a scandal that they are not. We’ve been saying this for years to the NHS.’

Heart failure is caused by the slow death of heart muscle, leading to poorer circulation and crippling exhaustion.

Most sufferers are given medicines to slow the effect, but the surgeons say improved LVAD technology now offers up to an extra 15 years of life.

Prof Simon, head of transplant at the Harefield Hospital in Uxbridge, Middlesex, said: ‘We want to use more heart pumps and assist devices but we can’t get the approval.

‘I’ve a patient who’s been on a heart pump for 15 years, which shows how good this technology is becoming.’

Ian Potts, 78, was fitted with an LVAD after suffering a heart attack a decade ago. The retired music teacher from Appleby, Cumbria, said he was ‘grateful to still be alive’ and carrying a battery pack to power the apple-sized pump was a small price to pay.

Prof Schueler, of the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne, said there were ‘many people like Mr Potts’ who could benefit if the rules were changed to allow more than the current number of between 100 and 150 LVADs per year to be fitted. ‘It’s so frustrating,’ added Prof Schueler, who is working with an Israeli firm to develop a device with an internal power source.

Mr Caterino, a surgeon at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, said the reliability of the pumps now rivals the ‘gold standard’ of a heart transplant.

A spokesman for NHS England, which last year conducted a two-month review of the use of the devices, said: ‘The results of that consultation are currently being analysed and will be published shortly.’

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