The UK Heart Failure Event of the Year will go ahead as planned: British Society for Heart Failure Annual Meeting 1-3 December 2021

The UK Heart Failure Event of the Year:

British Society for Heart Failure 24^th Annual Meeting, 1^st – 3^rd December 2021

Entitled ‘Freedom from Failure’ WILL GO AHEAD AS PLANNED

• ‘Freedom from Failure’ – helping those living with heart failure to gain freedom from the symptoms of heart failure by optimising its care and management

With CoViD on the rise again, the decision to hold the UK’s heart failure event of the year – the British Society for Heart Failure’s (BSH) Annual Meeting – has been a tough one for the society. Designed as a hybrid meeting with in-person attendance at a London venue as well as virtual attendance, it has been deemed of vital importance to go ahead as plannedas heart failure is becoming a growing societal issue exacerbated directly and indirectly by the waves of the CoVid pandemic.

Measures at the venue are in place to safeguard those who wish to attend in person and the virtual technology supporting the meeting (together with the BSH Event App specially designed for BSH members and delegates), will facilitate the hybrid interaction with speakers and colleagues, networking and scheduling over the 2.5 days of the meeting. The programme will cover the latest scientific research, data, guidelines and best clinical practice in heart failure care.

Professor Simon Williams, Chair of the BSH said: “Heart failure is a complex long-term condition the management of which requires specialist advice and guidance. The risk of death from heart failure is higher than for some of the most common cancers^[i] and CoViD. It should be recognised, detected and treated with the same urgency as a disease as malignant as cancer^[ii].

Williams continued: “For half of those with the condition, heart failure is terminal with death occurring within 2-5 years of diagnosis, yet for many in the UK, the delays in diagnosis can be over 12 months. We need to address this by being more informed and aware. To contribute to eliminating heart failure as a leading cause of death we collectively need to educate the public to recognise the symptoms, whether their own, a family member or that elderly neighbour to seek help, early diagnosis, specialist referral and get onto treatment to live better and longer.

We have made extraordinary progress over the last 2 decades so much so that heart failure is arguably the biggest success story of modern day medicine. We need to come together in discussion as experts in the field because, whilst it remains a burdensome, debilitating and potentially life-threatening condition, we have new treatment options which can help people to live well with heart failure. This is an important aim of the care we provide as heart failure specialists and an important objective of the BSH Annual Meeting.” He concluded.

The BSH Annual Meeting, using cutting edge technology to bring multimedia content to a UK and global clinical audience, will entertain lectures from a cardiology ‘A list’ faculty including:

Professor Carolyn Lam:Professor and Senior Consultant of the National Heart Centre, Singapore and Professor of Duke-NUS Cardiovascular Academic Clinical Program who will be discussing ‘the approach to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and heart failure with midrange ejection fraction (HFmrEF)’ in her keynote address

Milton Packer MD:Milton Packer, MD, Texas, is an internationally recognised clinical investigator who has made many seminal contributions to the field of heart failure, both in understanding its mechanisms and defining its rational management. He is a founder of the Heart Failure Society of America, is one of the most successful and recognised experts in the field of cardiology and has authored over 400 medical research publications. He will be giving the Philip Poole-Wilson Memorial Lecture

Further attractions in the BSH Annual Meeting 2021 programme include:

Introduction to BSH Patient Advisory Panel: a group of volunteers from around the UK and Wales with lived experience of heart failure who advise and guide BSH activities in the best interests of the patient

The Philip Poole-Wilson Memorial Lecture: to be delivered by Milton Packer MD

Awards:

• Three BSH Research Fellows Awards – 2 medical and 1 non-medical; open to nurses, healthcare professionals or scientists. Intended to support and inspire new talented researchers, dedicated to improving the lives of people with heart failure and further underpin our vision, to make heart failure a national priority.
• The Early Investigator Award for BSH members (physicians in registrar/training posts, nurses and other healthcare professionals); three abstracts judged on originality, methodology and clinical significance will be chosen for oral presentation during the Annual meeting.

Posters:

• BSH Investigators Research Network: to raise awareness of UK multi-centre heart failure related studies
• Heart Failure Service/Best Practice: showcasing and sharing of heart failure services

An interactive exhibition area including exhibits from:

• British Heart Foundation, British Journal of Cardiology, Journal of the American College of Cardiology Heart Failure (JACC HF), Cardiac Failure Review (CFR) Radcliffe Cardiology Publishing

If you would like further information/ would like to attend (healthcare professionals), please contact BSH Press Office. Details below: