Three-quarters of heart failure patients say their psychological needs to help them cope with the chronic disease are not being met.

That's according to research conducted by the Irish Heart Foundation, who are meeting with Government today to discuss patient care in Ireland for heart failure patients.

On Breakfast Briefing, Chris Macy from the foundation said heart failure is a leading cause of death in Ireland and also in reducing the quality of life.

"It's a really significant condition –there are 10,000 new cases a year and it's estimated that there are at least 90,000 people living with the condition," he said.

"There are 20,000 heart failure-related admissions to hospitals every year and it accounts for about 7% of all inpatient bed days in Irish hospitals."

The patients

Mr Macy said the research they conducted has revealed that patients are "really struggling" physically, psychologically and financially because of service and support deficits.

"The psychological need is huge when you consider the five-year mortality rate from heart failure is 36%," he said.

"50% didn't get adequate cardiac rehabilitation, which is a service that saves lives and quality of life on a huge scale.

"Almost 40% of working-age heart failure patients don't have a medical card or GP visit card.

"60% experienced the big drop in income with large numbers not being able to work and then also experiencing much, much higher costs from things like medical bills, medication, and higher household bills."

There are more than 10,000 new heart failure cases in Ireland every year and at least 90,000 people are living with the condition with an additional 250,000 impending cases.

Despite this, awareness and understanding of heart failure among both the public and policymakers is low. pic.twitter.com/vUcraxxIUl

— Irish Heart Foundation (@Irishheart_ie) June 27, 2023

Vital services

Patients are left feeling "abandoned" and "invisible", according to Mr Macy.

"There have been investments in cardiac rehabilitation services in the community, but what we're saying is a lot more needs to be done," he said

"We're starting today with going into Leinster House – there's very little awareness among policymakers or the public of heart failure and we need to develop that.

"It's been leading to an under-prioritisation of heart failure and we need a lot more emphasis and priority put on it.

"The international study shows us around 42% of heart failure patients experienced depression and [in] most of those it's moderate to severe depression."

M6M081 Small red love heart pebble stone against a simple background

The foundation is asking for support to get a National Heart Failure registry, better education for health service planners to cut mortality and hospital admission rates, expansion of services to tackle the psychological impact, investments in emotional support in the community, medical cards for all heart failure patients, and full access to high-quality cardiac rehabilitation.

"A lot more really needs to be done to help them and [there are] just four hospitals providing clinical psychology, and in each of those four hospitals, service falls far short of what patients need," he said.

"If we can get those things supported and funded, it'll make a huge, huge difference to the lives of people living in every community in the country with heart failure."