MORE than 600 Bury patients have been identified as being at risk of the complications of heart failure.

The Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Greater Manchester, supported by Bury GP practices, ran a project to find patients who would benefit from being added to their GP practice’s heart failure register.

They also wanted to raise awareness of heart failure among practice staff and improve their knowledge and skills, so they can better help patients with the condition.

Over the past 18 months, 28 GP practices in Bury have participated in an audit exercise to assess their existing heart failure registers and current standards of heart failure care.

More than 10,000 patient records were identified and manually audited to find patients with a diagnosis of heart failure who were not on the register, and patients who had symptoms of heart failure or other indications that required further investigation.

The audits resulted in 632 patients being added to the heart failure register.

Dr Kiran Patel, chairman and clinical lead for NHS Bury Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “This project has identified hundreds of patients who will benefit from a tailored package of care.

“It has also invested time in colleagues working within GP practices to boost their skills and knowledge in this area to enable them to help manage their patients’ condition on an ongoing basis.”