Early detection of heart failure, atrial fibrillation and chest pain and the best treatment, tailored to patients' personal needs. To achieve this, the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Netherlands Society of Cardiology (NVVC), in particular through the Connect programme, and the Dutch association for people with cardiovascular diseases (Harteraad) will collaborate even more intensively in the context of the DCVA in the coming three years.
The four organisations have signed an agreement for this. The next step is to develop projects and programmes to effectively apply existing knowledge on the earlier detection and treatment of heart failure, atrial fibrillation and acute coronary syndrome. The partners will deploy their large support base and network to set up these initiatives.
To achieve the cooperation goals, transparency of the relevant figures for transmural care, such as healthcare costs, is needed. In addition, the partners will contribute to the goals set out in each other's knowledge, research and improvement agendas. In addition, attention will be paid to cardiac rehabilitation and patient compliance.
The parties emphasise the shared interest of the cooperating organisations: that all patients have access to the best care. ‘I see the agreement as an excellent start to intensify collaboration to further providing the right care for heart patients in the right place,’ says Wia Timmerman (NVVC). Marina Senten (Hartstichting): ‘I’m very happy with the energy within this collaboration and I expect patients and healthcare providers to experience the effects within a year.’
NVVC, Harteraad and the Dutch Heart Foundation are already partners within the DCVA, and thus already share the ambition to reduce the disease burden of cardiovascular diseases by 25% in 2030. The added value of this additional cooperation agreement is that the parties focus on implementation projects around these specific diseases. The earlier detection and treatment of heart failure, atrial fibrillation, acute coronary syndrome and chest pain make an important contribution to that goal.