Cardiovascular, renal and metabolic care needs “complete re-think”, says chair of CVRM Professional Care
Treating the person rather than individual conditions is crucial to implementing integrated cardiovascular, renal and metabolic care, delegates at CVRM Professional Care heard.
Dr Kevin Fernando, a Portfolio GP with an Extended Role in Diabetes at NHS Lothian, chaired the two-day conference, which is the first of its kind to shine a spotlight on some of the biggest developments and challenges shaping CVRM care.
Dr Fernando opened the conference today, Tuesday 20 October, with a session entitled ‘Defining CVRM’, with the aim of raising the profile of integrated CVRM care with his primary care colleagues.
Dr Fernando, who specialises in the management of type 2 diabetes, obesity and weight management along with all CVRM conditions, said breaking down siloed approaches to cardiovascular, renal and metabolic care will not only benefit patients but will ease pressure on clinicians and NHS resources.
He said: “It’s not just about defining CVRM, it’s about how we need to completely re-think how we look at cardiovascular, renal and metabolic conditions.
“We can no longer look at these conditions as individual conditions because they are all intrinsically linked. The treatment, management and optimisation in one system drives the benefit in other systems so as always, we need to treat the person and not the individual condition.”
Dr Fernando’s five key take-away messages for delegates were:
- Think beyond individual diseases
- Treat the person, not just the individual condition and numbers
- Break down silos
- Identify risk before disease develops
- Prioritise treatments with multi-organ benefits.
Conference delegates will hear from other speakers about centres of excellence where integrated care is at the heart of practice, and how these models can be implemented elsewhere in the county.
Read more about CVRM Professional Care here