A Galway programme focusing on diet and exercise which aims to prevent heart attacks and strokes has been found to generate benefits worth eight times what it costs to run.
A report launched to mark World Heart Day today by the National Institute for Preventive Cardiology states that the Croí programme points to how the health service could be reshaped to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease.
The Croí MyAction Programme operating for the past five years at the charity’s base in Newcastle in the city has treated 617 high risk individuals and their partners.
An independent health economic evaluation funded by Healthy Ireland has found that every €1 invested, an average €8 is generated in benefits. So far €700,000 has been spent on delivering the 12-16 week intervention programme for free to those who most need it.
This has yielded benefits of €4.8m due to a variety of health changes.
Among them a smoking quit rate of 51%, which results in a halving of cardiac events; greater adherence to the ‘Mediterranean Diet’; an increase in physical activity targets from 13% to 52%, which reduces cardiac events by nearly a third; an average weight reduction of over eight pounds; and healthier blood pressure and cholesterol readings.
Croi’s Director of Prevention Programmes, Irene Gibson, said the report demonstrates for the first time in Ireland that prevention does work. Investing in prevention can deliver economic as well as health gains.
“With adequate investment, we could move from a reactive service which is overly reliant on acute hospital care and expensive cardiac procedures to a more proactive preventive model utilising community programmes as a third tier of healthcare,” she explained.
“The Croí programme is an excellent demonstration of how best practice guidelines can be translated into everyday clinical practice. Empowering people through an individualised approach to behaviour and lifestyle change is the key.
“However, there is a huge training need among healthcare professionals to equip them with the skills necessary to support and facilitate often complex lifestyle and behaviour change.”
The Croí prevention programme involves specialist nurses, dieticians, physiotherapists and physicians engaging in an intensive lifestyle and risk factor reduction programme where all patients and an accompanying family member are assessed at the start of the programme, on programme completion and again at one year.
The Galway programme was recently selected as Ireland’s model of best practice in chronic disease management and recommended to CHRODIS, a European body that aims to promote good practice in chronic disease management across Europe.
The analysis found there was an 88% uptake, which remained at 86% a year on.
The HSE West Galway Primary Community and Continuing Care had committed to funding a Croí MyAction pilot programme for three years, however it was discontinued early in year two due to budget constraints.
Since then the programme has been funded entirely by Croí through its fundraising activities and philanthropic support. The cost per participant is €1,169.