Every 25 minutes a someone in the North West dies of a heart attack and now a new independent clinic is looking to raise the bar for heart health. Tony McDonough reports
One of Liverpool city region’s leading heart doctors is to open the North West’s first independent healthy heart clinic along with several clinical colleagues.
Dr Scott Murray was inspired to become a cardiologist after his grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack. He is now a consultant cardiologist at Wirral University Teaching Hospital. He is launching Venturi Cardiology in, Warrington this spring.
Venturi has been created by Dr Murray and three like-minded cardiologist friends. The screening clinic, equipped with the latest technology, has been backed with investment from the Briley Group. It will create 10 new jobs during its first two years of operation.
Venturi’s mission is to make world-class heart care accessible, affordable and more personalised. In the same way that a mammogram is given as standard for women over 50 or with a family history, Venturi want heart testing to be a standard procedure for those patients most at risk.
As well as providing routine diagnostic cardiology services, Venturi’s primary objective is to treat the cause of heart disease, currently the UK’s biggest killer. Every 25 minutes someone in the North West dies from heart or circulatory disease, with healthcare costs relating to these diseases estimated at £9bn each year.
Dr Murray, was also the former President of the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, said: “Every year, over 100,000 people in the UK die of sudden cardiac arrest, and yet so much of our heart health is driven by what we eat, how we move and through lifestyle choices -factors that are all within our control.
“I see people every day who, if they had received a heart scan five years before, could have been treated or potentially may have been given that push to really change their lifestyle and turn their life around.”
The strain the global coronavirus pandemic has put on NHS waiting times is reaching crisis point. Operating as an independent clinic, Venturi is looking to collaborate with the NHS to offer its services through GPs and hospitals, ensuring that GPs can refer higher risk patients on to them.
As part of its service offering, the business will offer an annual membership programme. This will offer patients annual screening, fast track availability to expert consultants (either virtually or in-clinic) and a personalised health and wellbeing plan incorporating nutrition, lifestyle and advanced diagnostic testing.
Other founding clinicians of Venturi include Dr Sam Srivastava, Dr Tom Heseltine and Dr Jonathan Hasleton. Dr Srivastava added: “Our goal is to speed up treatment for patients, save lives and help to offload some of the pressures on the NHS. We are also looking at growing our team and expanding our services to include other health care requirements.”