A LEADING heart expert from Warrington has been speaking to professionals about how to protect their hearts.
More than 44,000 people under the age of 75 die from coronary heart disease every year in the UK and the North West has one of the highest rates in the country.
Consultant Cardiologist Dr Scott Murray, founder of Venturi Cardiology, an independent cardiology diagnostic clinic based in Warrington, gave his talk at a special event in collaboration with Brabners and Professional Liverpool. He was joined by Neil Lewis, founder of the Empathy Coach.
Dr Murray, who also works in the NHS, gave practical advice and preventative strategies on life changes that can dramatically reduce a person’s risk of heart disease.
He said: “Waiting times for standard NHS outpatient appointments and diagnostic services are at an all-time high unfortunately due to Covid. In some cases, people are waiting in excess of 30 weeks for diagnostics.
“With heart disease being the biggest killer in the UK and your risk increasing with age, the earlier you can spot signs and symptoms the better.
“Advances in technology mean that it is now possible to accurately outline an individual’s risk and to treat that patient accordingly.
“There are also lots of ways to maintain excellent heart health including stopping smoking, making dietary changes, losing weight, stress management and increasing your levels of physical activity.
“We believe there are better and more efficient ways to run this service which is why we launched our own independent cardiovascular diagnostic and disease prevention clinic 12 months ago.”
Joining Dr Murray was Neil Lewis, who spoke about how thoughts, feelings and behaviours can have an impact on physical health. He gave his advice on what to do to face stress and trauma with the right mindset.
The heart health focused event was held at Brabners’ offices in Exchange Flags, Liverpool.
Richard Hough, Partner and Head of the Healthcare Sector for Brabners, said: “We all have to deal with stress in our professional lives which is why it’s so important to know how to achieve a healthy lifestyle and what physical and emotional triggers might have a negative impact on that.
“It was good to hear the practical advice from both Dr Murray and Neil Lewis, who offered solutions to issues potentially facing our clients and staff.”
Andrew Ruffler, Chief Executive of Professional Liverpool, said: “We all seem to be working at a hundred miles per hour and people need to take a step back and think about their health and wellbeing.
“This event was a great opportunity to arm the professional community of Liverpool, who we represent, with the information to help them to keep heart healthy.”
Venturi Cardiology, which opened in Warrington in July 2021 and has seen over 1,200 patients to date, provides routine diagnostic cardiology services as well as CT calcium score heart tests, which take just minutes to do, and can reveal a person’s risk of heart disease over the next 5-10 years.
Patients have access to rapid assessment, typically less than two weeks from first visit to a treatment decision.
