Authors' objectives:

This report aims to answer the following questions:

1. Are ACE inhibitors now the treatment of choice in heart failure?

2. Should general practitioners have open access to echocardiography?

Authors' recommendations: 1. The ACE inhibitors are beneficial and cost-effective in most but not all causes of heart failure. 2. The cost of ACE inhibitors is falling. Their use in heart failure will be cost-saving if the resources saved in hospital are released for use in primary care. 3. Echocardiography is a valuable investigation and we recommend that general practitioners should have access to it. Ideally, this should be by a rapid cardiology consultation including echocardiography as part of a total assessment of heart failure. If this cannot be provided, an open access service providing an echocardiography interpretation is the second option, and can provide a useful triage system to reduce the workload of the cardiology service.

Authors' methods: Review

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.nhsconfed.net/shpic/doc19.htm

Year Published: 1998

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Scotland, United Kingdom

Organisation Name: Scottish Health Purchasing Information Centre

Copyright: Scottish Health Purchasing Information Centre