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Press releases
Lifeblood: The Thrombosis Charity backs
Parliament's push to 'Stop the Clots'
Health Select Committee recommends procedures to prevent thrombosis in hospitals
Release date: 8 March 2005
Lifeblood: The Thrombosis Charity has praised an All Party Parliamentary Health Select Committee Report recommending preventative measures for the development of venous thrombosis in patients, following surgery and during, or just after, hospital stays.
The Report, published today, sets out guidelines that could help prevent tens of thousands of known thrombosis-related deaths in the UK each year.
"Venous thromboembolism – or VTE – is the most common cause of hospital deaths in the UK that can be prevented – many times greater than the widely publicised MRSA," comments Dr Beverley Hunt, medical director for Lifeblood.
"This All Party Parliamentary Select Committee has issued its recommendations to the Government in a bid to cut the alarming death rate from VTE. Lifeblood urges the Department of Health and NHS to implement these recommendations immediately."
The key recommendations of the Report are:
- That the current National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on the prevention of thrombosis be extended to cover the majority of hospital patients and that they be introduced earlier than the current timing of May 2007.
- That on admission to hospital all patients are counselled on the risks of VTE and undergo a risk assessment to determine if drugs should be administered.
- That to raise awareness amongst medical practitioners of the extent of the problem all physicians and surgeons are informed if their patients contract VTE after they have been discharged from hospital.
- That the NHS ensures the guidelines are fully implemented. The Department of Health, NICE and the Royal Colleges should work together to raise awareness of the extent of VTE and to audit the use of the guidelines.
- That thrombosis committees and thrombosis teams be established in each hospital to promote best practice and to be a source of education and training of all staff.
The risk factors for VTE are well known and can be relatively easily spotted, so, according to Lifeblood, risk-assessment at the time a patient is admitted to hospital with appropriate thromboprophylaxis (preventative measures) could reduce the incidence of a thrombosis significantly.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is common in hospital in-patients – those undergoing both surgical and medical treatments. Up to 30 percent of surgical patients can develop a DVT if no preventative measures are given, and this condition can lead to sudden death due to pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolism following DVT is the immediate cause of death in 10 per cent of all patients who die in hospital.
"In hospital medicine we should be reaching the stage where we don't question whether a patient needs preventative measures for thrombosis – we just make a clinical assumption that they do. Then we ask whether there is any reason why they shouldn't receive treatments to prevent clots," adds Dr Hunt.
"This Report can help the NHS get to that stage sooner."
ENDS
The Health Select Committee announced the inquiry on the Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism in Hospitalised Patients in November 2004. Dr Beverley Hunt was one of the witnesses who gave evidence at the oral evidence session on 9 December 2004.
Download a copy of the Health Select Committee report (pdf format)
Explanatory terms:
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) – development of a blood clot (thrombus) in
the leg.
Pulmonary embolism (PE) – when a clot in the leg breaks off and travels
around the circulation through the right side of the heart to block the pulmonary
arteries. A small embolism can cause chest pain and breathlessness, whiles
a large one can be fatal.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) – a term that encompasses deep vein thrombosis
and pulmonary embolism.
Media contact
Further information from Jacqui Marr on 01406
381017 or email information@thrombosis-charity.org.uk
Copyright
© Lifeblood: The Thrombosis Charity 2003-2006. A
company limited by guarantee. Registered Company No: 4354472.
Registered Charity No: 1090540
