What challenges do people with heart failure face when accessing specialist advice or secondary care?
People with heart failure who were not receiving specialist treatment reported that it was challenging to access specialist advice or secondary care, and that they have to spend time trying to access these through their general practitioner. Once receiving specialist care, or after discharge, patients reported that continued access to the support they felt they needed was also not straight-forward. Some patients felt that the illness itself made asking for help harder. One patient reports If you have a heart issue you have to shout and speak for yourself and keep at somebody And if you re not feeling well that s not what you want to be doing.”