Impact of pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought this into even sharper focus, having had a significant impact on people with heart disease and on the services that support them. A recent study of severe COVID-19 cases across the UK revealed that the most common comorbidity is chronic heart disease (29%).6 Ischaemic (coronary) heart disease has been the second most common pre-existing condition for COVID-19 fatalities in Scotland, behind dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.7,8
Furthermore, during the initial lockdown period of the pandemic, overall attendance at Accident and Emergency (A&E) decreased,9 and this period coincided with a
