More staff are needed to carry out heart tests

A third of trusts in England lack technicians who can conduct and interpret heart tests, the Healthcare Commission has found.

But its midway review of the NHS' progress to meet the government's 2010 heart disease targets shows promising signs.

Britain is catching up with the best of EU countries.

People are still dying. More must be done Anna Walker, the commission's Chief Executive

But more work is needed in the next five years, it concluded.

Patients who suffer a heart attack are getting treatment more quickly, with 85% of people getting clot-busting drugs within target times compared with 59% only two years ago.

And the number of trusts with only one cardiologists has gone down significantly.

UK heart disease death rates are also coming down, and are now closer to those of other European countries - including Spain, Italy and France.

But the commission says more work needs to be done, targeting resources on those most at risk because of social and economic deprivation, smoking or obesity.

Part of the problem is these high risk patients are not being picked up.

The Commission reviewed services covering a third of the NHS, as well as carrying out a survey of nearly 4,000 patients, and taking evidence countrywide from focus groups of patients and their families.

The recommendations Tackle key skills shortages Find and treat high-risk patients Boost stop smoking and obesity services Invest in heart failure services Give patients better information Improve communication between service providers Expand and monitor rehabilitation services Source: The Healthcare Commission

Anna Walker, the commission's Chief Executive, said: "Overall, this is a good news story for the health service.

"There has been real and significant progress on what is unquestionably a top national priority.

"But there is still more to do. There remain regional variations in care, which though improving, are still unacceptably high in some cases.

"People are still dying. More must be done to maintain momentum and reduce the major risk factors - obesity, smoking, poor diet and lack of physical activity.

"Patients leaving hospital are not always receiving the appropriate rehabilitation, information and services to ensure that they recover as fully as possible.

"There are also still improvements to be made to patients' care, particularly on providing access to tests which can show heart failure. All these areas must improve."

A spokeswoman from the Department of Health said: "This report is further evidence that we have made huge progress towards delivering better services for people with heart disease.

"Death rates have dropped by 27%, waiting times have fallen from two years to almost three months and hundreds of thousands more patients are being treated with life-saving drugs.

"We know there is more work to do.

"The Department is currently examining novel ways of recruiting into cardiac physiology departments and is working with cardiac clinical networks and the CHD Collaborative to improve workforce planning and recruitment at local level."