Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment and Management Programme
The five-year Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk assessment and management programme is a nation-wide programme that aims to improve the risk assessment and risk management of cardiovascular disease among asymptomatic Rotorua Area Primary Health Services (RAPHS) patients in high-risk groups.
The purpose is to reduce the impact and incidence of preventable disease through screening and intervention and has the potential to reduce CVD events by up to 50 per cent in the 10 years to 2018. The overall goal is to achieve, at least, a five-year cardiovascular risk of less than 15%.
Two of the first groups to be targeted for screening are men aged 35 to 70 and women aged 45 to 70 from Maori, Pacific or Indian subcontinent ethnic backgrounds. These groups are identified as likely to benefit significantly from cardiovascular screening and management programmes before moving into the higher-risk age bands.
Risk reduction services will include stop-smoking programmes, exercise programmes and weight reduction and healthy eating services and advice.
Funded by Health Rotorua and using nurse-led CVD clinics, the programme is supported by an Electronic Decision Support (EDS) program that the RAPHS technology team is rolling out to member practices during 2008.
This program supports the measurement and recording of:
- Age, gender, ethnicity
- smoking history
- Fasting lipid profile
- Fasting plasma glucose
- Average of two sitting blood pressures
- Family history
- Waist circumference
- Body mass index
People with diabetes will require additional tests:
- HbA1c
- Albumin:creatinine ratio
- Creatinine
- Date of diagnosis
With an estimated 18,500 patients to assess over the next five years, General Practices are implementing the programme progressively; developing and managing their own procedures for contacting and assessing eligible patients.
Key RAPHS staff members supporting the programme are Clinical Nurse Leader Kris, CVD Clinical Leaders Dr Clem Le Lievre and Dr Mike Williams, and Clinical Facilitator Tim.
RAPHS is implementing this programme on behalf of Health Rotorua with Services to Improve Access (SIA) funding. This type of funding is made available to reduce inequalities among populations that are known to have the worst health status: Maori, Pacific people and those living in NZ Dep index 9-10 decile areas. The funding is for new services or improved access.