Heart Failure Policy Network presents handbook at event in Lisbon

The work of the Heart Failure Policy Network (HFPN), for which HPP acts as secretariat, was presented today (25 June 2019) at an event hosted by AADIC – the Portuguese Association of Support for Patients with Heart Failure.

The event focused on a presentation of The handbook of multidisciplinary and integrated heart failure care, which HFPN produced in 2018. HPP Senior Researcher Sara C Marques, who is Head of Programme for HFPN, presented the handbook and discussed how it has led to a new project that will define a strategic consensus on heart failure in Portugal. The new project will kick-off in July with the first of three think-tank sessions.

The handbook was designed to offer a starting point for national policy discussions on multidisciplinary and integrated care in heart failure across the different EU healthcare systems. Today’s event, held at the Cultural Centre of Belém in Lisbon, considered the challenges for heart failure patients across Europe and specifically in Portugal, and how lessons learnt can help to shape the future of effective heart failure care.

Speakers included: Dr Benvinda dos Santos, Director of Services for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Portuguese Directorate General for Health; Dr Luís Filipe Pereira, President of AADIC; Professor Fausto Pinto, President-Elect of the World Heart Federation; and Professor Manuel Carrageta, President of the Portuguese Foundation of Cardiology. There was also a panel discussion featuring Portuguese parliamentarians.

The event was covered on the My Cardiologia website, and an interview was recorded with Sara C Marques [both article and video in Portuguese]: