A LEADING North-East heart specialist insists there is a “compelling case” to change the rules so the NHS will pay for implantable heart pumps to be installed as an alternative to transplants.

Professor Stephan Schueler, from the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle, believes many North-East heart failure patients are denied access to potentially life-extending treatment because of outdated eligibility criteria.

Currently his team put about 35 electrically-powered heart pumps annually into the chests of heart failure patients.

But Prof Schueler believes this number would more than double if funding rules were changed to allow the devices as a form of long-term treatment, rather than a bridge to a transplant.

Patients rejected for heart pump surgery face an early death from heart failure.

In the past three years, 70 people from across the North- East and Cumbria have had heart pumps fitted to support them until a donor heart can be found.

This is at a time when the number of heart failure patients is increasing and the number of heart transplants is falling.

But strict funding rules mean some patients unsuitable for a heart transplant who could live for years on a heart pump can not be considered for the £66,000 Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD).

Prof Scheuler, in charge of the UK’s biggest heart pump programme, told The Northern Echo: “Donor hearts are becoming increasingly scarce, but this pump is just a piece of metal on a shelf.

“It should be available to patients who are not necessarily candidates for transplants.

“I think there is a compelling case for funding rules to be changed.”

Prof Schueler said so many people are now living relatively normal lives on heart pumps in Europe and the US that NHS funding should be available to install the devices as a long-term solution for heart failure.

In practical terms, the age limit for UK heart transplants is about 70, which means anyone over this age is excluded from having a pump fitted, which could give them years of good-quality life.

Prof Schueler decided to speak out because of the success of the Freeman LVAD programme since it started three years ago.

Dr Imogen Stephens, medical advisor for the National Specialised Commissioning Team, said: “The NHS wants to provide the best possible care for patients.

“We would welcome evidence which shows how the use of LVADs can further improve patient care.

“A new technical assessment concerning the eligibility criteria for LVADs and further evidence about clinical outcomes for patients would be very useful.

“Using LVADs is a highlyspecialist procedure currently used to treat people with very severe heart failure who are awaiting transplantation.”