This ECHO Network seeks to deliver a heart failure virtual clinical review service enabling Primary Care staff (GPs, Practice Nurses, General Practice Pharmacists) to have regular sessions with HF specialists from the Southern Trust (Cardiologists, Heart Failure Nurses) during which specialist staff will deliver a short education presentation on Heart Failure (HF) patient management and discuss anonymised patient cases submitted by primary care clinicians to share learning and best practice.

Previous experience in Dublin has clearly shown significant benefit with this form of teaching as practitioners can then relate the learning back to their individual patients who have the same clinical presentations.

This project is a partnership between NHSCT/ Medicines Optimisation Innovation Centre (MOIC) with SHSCT delivering on behalf of MOIC, to facilitate the education and upskilling of primary care staff in the identification, treatment & appropriate referral of HF patients.

The Model will seek to obtain baseline information on current patient’s outcomes along with the treatment model and then following participation in the ECHO programme review the same practice AF population to review outcomes and treatment plans aligned to revised pathways developed in collaboration with all providers and participants during the ECHO programme. Furthermore, these patients typically have a number of long term conditions with resultant polypharmacy and as such would be a key target group for medicines optimisation.