The Children’s Heart Federation today welcomes new guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which recommends self-monitoring devices for NHS use by people on long-term warfarin therapy. This guidance is one step closer to giving patients to choice to self-test their blood at home and the heart charity hopes this new guidance will now be acted on by Clinical Commissioning Groups.

 There are currently over 1 million people in the UK on warfarin, of which less than two per cent benefit from self-monitoring despite the evidence that it can cut the risk of death by nearly two-fifths and more than halve the risk of strokes.

 Anne Keatley-Clarke, Chief Executive, Children’s Heart Federation, says:

“In partnership with ACSMA, The Children’s Heart Federation has been campaigning for many years that INR machines should be available on prescription.   In the same way that children with diabetes are able to self-test their blood at home, children on warfarin should also have the option to self-test at home. We are delighted that NICE has concluded that self-monitoring with these devices is a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources.”

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Press contact:

Emma Pelling, T. 020 7624 7533 M. 07958 558172 e. emma@pellingpr.co.uk ; www.chfed.org.uk Twitter: @chfed