HOSPITAL admissions for heart failure have risen by a third in the past five years, research has found.
As the NHS struggles to cope with an ageing population, the huge rise is three times higher than all other cases.
Around 920,000 Brits live with heart failure and the condition places a greater burden on the NHS than the four most common cancers combined, the British Heart Foundation said.
Growing numbers of heart attack survivors, an ageing and growing population and Brits living with high blood pressure and diabetes are to blame.
In some cases, those with heart failure are left unable to perform regular day-to-day activities such as walking upstairs, or they are left breathless, even when resting.
Severe cases can have a worse life expectancy than many cancers.
Recorded heart failure admissions have risen from 65,025 in 2013/14 to 86,474 in 2018/19.
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Heart failure poses a growing and increasingly complex challenge, not only for people living with the condition, but for those who care for them too.
“It’s concerning to see yet another increase in hospital admissions — an indication that how we diagnose, treat and care for these patients needs urgent attention.
“There is no cure for heart failure, but with access to the right services and support, people can go on to have a good quality of life for many years.
“We need to find new and improved ways of delivering this care, including in communities rather than hospitals.
“Doing so will improve thousands of lives and relieve the unsustainable pressure that heart failure is putting on our health service.”
