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Heart failure services (outpatients) referrals

Access is via e-Referral - please refer to the Heart Failure Clinic within Cardiology.

The following clinicians are responsible for outpatient and inpatient heart failure services:

Dr James Gamble
Consultant Cardiologist, Clinical Lead for Heart Failure
Professor Kazem Rahimi
Honorary Consultant Cardiologist
Helen Jackson
Nurse Consultant
Dr Ian Arnold
Consultant Cardiologist, Horton General Hospital
Dr Eleanor Wicks
Consultant Cardiologist, Cardiomyopathy and Genetics

Patients with a suspected diagnosis of heart failure should be referred via e-Referral to the Heart Failure Clinic.

We will triage by urgency, using the criteria on the referral proforma. Most patients will be seen at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and we can currently offer a limited number of appointments at the Horton General in Banbury.

Where echocardiography alone is required please refer via e-Referral, selecting Echocardiography alone on the proforma, or refer for echocardiography in the normal way.

For email advice, GPs should please use the standard email advice line: oxon.cardiologyadvice@nhs.net

For patients known to the Heart Failure service, please contact the clinicians directly (email) or the Heart Failure Nurses.

Criteria for referral to secondary care

Suspected heart failure, as per the proforma

The following criteria apply to referral of patients back to secondary care with an established diagnosis of heart failure.

Severe heart failure (NYHA Class III/IV).
Heart failure that does not respond to treatment as discussed in the NICE guidelines.
Angina, symptomatic atrial fibrillation or other arrhythmia.
Women who are planning a pregnancy or who are pregnant.
Heart failure that can no longer be managed effectively in the home setting.
Patients thought to be eligible for therapy with implantable devices (pacemaker, CRT/ICD).

Oxfordshire Community Heart Failure Nurse Service

Oxfordshire Community Heart Failure Nurse Service works in conjunction with the heart failure service at the John Radcliffe and Horton General hospitals to provide support for the management of heart failure patients in the community.

The community team provides education and facilitates treatment protocols for patients with heart failure.

Criteria for referral to the Community Heart Failure Nurse Service are as follows.

Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction must be confirmed by echocardiogram (EF <40%).
New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification grade III/IV.
Patients requiring palliative care for heart failure.

Patients with heart failure and preserved left ventricular function will be considered if the patients have been reviewed in secondary care by a Cardiologist.