Arrhythmia Task Group
An arrhythmia is a disturbance of the normal rhythm of the heart, when it beats too fast, too slow or beats irregularly. Arrhythmias are very common and affect over 700,000 people in England. Arrhythmias may occur naturally, or are due to heart disease or other causes, e.g. a reaction to a medicine. An arrhythmia may occur continuously or just occasionally.
Cardiac arrhythmia affects more than 700,000 people in England and is consistently in the top ten reasons for hospital admission. The most common arrhythmia is Atrial Fibrillation (AF) which affects up to 1% of the population (rising to 4% in the over 65s) and absorbing almost 1% of the entire NHS budget.
The work of the Network arrhythmia task group focuses on the improved identification and provision of care for people with an arrhythmia.
This year the Network is implementing the recommendations from the Cardiovascular Review of which a subgroup of the Arrhythmia task group is taking forward the Arrhythmia project.