Arrhythmia care co-ordinators: Their impact on anxiety and depression, readmissions and health service costs

Background: In 2005, the UK Department of Health recommended that a new role, the arrhythmia care coordinator (ACC), be created to guide patients through the diagnosis and treatment for arrhythmia. The belief was that this would improve the efficiency of care and improve their quality of life. The British Heart Foundation provided funding for 32 such posts, all of which were filled by arrhythmia specialist nurses, and commissioned an evaluation of the new service to assess its impact on patients. Aims: This paper focuses on the impact of the ACCs on their patients’ levels of anxiety and depression, hospital readmissions and costs to the National Health Service (NHS). Methods: From 2008 to 2010, using questionnaires, we conducted a longitudinal audit of the psychological status of the patients referred to the ACCs; we also assessed the ACCs’ impact on readmissions and cost benefits to the NHS using UK Hospital Episode Statistics. Results: We found high levels of anxiety and depression amongst patients. Nearly one-third were at the ‘borderline’ or ‘clinically anxious’ and 18% were at the ‘borderline’ or ‘clinically depressed’ level at their first assessment with small changes at follow-up. In arrhythmia specialist nurse sites, readmission rates were reduced by half. After deducting the cost of the ACCs and their support, the estimated annual saving was £29,357 per ACC. Conclusion: This evaluation has shown that the NHS saves £29,357 per year over and above the costs of employing a British Heart Foundation ACC and that all arrhythmia centres should be encouraged to employ an appropriate number of such specialists.