Heart Failure Service (North)

We are a community heart failure team working across the North locality of West Sussex. We see patients who are over 18 years of age with a confirmed diagnosis of heart failure by echocardiogram.

We visit patients in their own homes and work towards a target of reducing hospital admissions. We provide the patient with our contact details and written and verbal information around the management of heart failure; we give education around self management and recognizing early signs or symptoms of heart failure and when to contact us for telephone advice or a home visit review.

We work as per NICE guidance for Heart Failure (2010) and aim to optimize as indicated preventative medications for heart failure such as ACE inhibitors and Beta blockers. We work closely with the GP in managing patients with heart failure. We provide a personalized care plan for heart failure management and share care with the GP and other community services.

Support Groups

Many people with heart failure find it useful to meet others who have had similar experiences. This is equally true of their families and carers. We run a local heart failure patient support group every month at Crawley and Horsham Community Hospitals. The aim of the group is to:

• Help you learn more about living with heart failure from experienced local specialists
• Provide you with the opportunity to share experiences with other people with heart failure
• Allow you the opportunity to feedback and make suggestions on how we can improve local services

To find out the date of the next meeting, to book a place or for more information please call our office on 01403 227042. There is no charge for the sessions and coffee and tea will be provided.