Simple heart health test helps reassure Cantabrians

November 9, 2015

Simple heart health test helps reassure Cantabrians with chest pain

A simple exercise test is reassuring hundreds of patients every year in the Canterbury Health System.

The Direct Access General Practice referral for Exercise Tolerance Test (DAETT) is helping to reassure more than 600 Cantabrians a year who present to their doctor with chest pain.

Dr Joan Leighton, Cardiology GP Liaison, says the test involves patients exercising on a treadmill while their heart is monitored to detect signs of possible Ischaemic Heart Disease.

“Chest pain is a fairly common health complaint. Most of the time it can be managed by the patient’s General Practice Team, but what we were finding was a group of patients who fitted in between,” Dr Leighton says.

“These patients don’t quite meet the typical specialist referral criteria for Cardiology, yet their GP still had some uncertainty around the seriousness of their chest pain symptoms.”

In 2011 the option of DAETT was set up as an alternate path for these referrals, triaged by the GP Liaison to ensure this is the best option for the patient. The aim is to provide patients and their GP reassurance without having to formally refer them to Cardiology.

“It’s much less daunting for a patient to be told by their GP they are being sent for an exercise test to see if there is something going on with their heart, than to be referred straight to the specialist,” Dr Leighton says.

“The other benefit is we’re not wasting the patient’s time waiting to see the specialist – they usually receive an exercise test within 12 weeks from first going to see their GP.”

Dr Leighton says this also frees up Cardiologists to see those with higher clinical concern.

“While patients are not physically seen by the consultant at the exercise test, results are reviewed by a Cardiologist in a virtual clinic. They can confirm whether any further investigations are needed.”

David Toombs, from Woolston, says he was impressed with how quick the referral process to do the test was.

“I think it’s really good. My doctor was able to organise it quite quickly,” Mr Toombs says.

“It was good to get fast access to a specialised test that could determine pretty much straight away whether something more sinister was going on.”

About 10 percent of patients referred to DAETT will require an urgent specialist consultation. These patients are usually seen within four weeks.

ENDS

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