BMJ  2007;334:1336 (30 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39254.922350.1F

Letters

What about the GPs?

We help treat acute coronary syndromes

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

I was disappointed that the role of primary care and cardiac rehabilitation in the long term treatment of patients with acute coronary syndromes was not acknowledged by Peters et al.¹ A similar review in the Lancet made the same omission.² The importance of cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction has recently been emphasised by guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.³ The evidence for the effectiveness of nurse led secondary prevention clinics for coronary heart disease in primary care⁴ has been included in the quality and outcomes framework of the new general practitioner contract. When such primary care based clinics are integrated with cardiac rehabilitation programmes, optimal longterm treatment is possible for patients with acute coronary syndromes.⁵

Truro TR1 2LZ

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Competing interests: None declared.

1. Peters RJ, Mehta S, Yusuf S. Acute coronary syndromes without ST segment elevation. BMJ 2007;334:1265-9. (16 June.)[Free Full Text]
2. Boersma E, Mercado N, Poldermans D, Gardien M, Vos J, Simoons ML. Acute myocardial infarction. Lancet 2003;361:847-58.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
3. Skinner JS, Cooper A, Feder GS. Secondary prevention for patients after a myocardial infarction: summary of NICE guidance. BMJ 2007;334:1112-3. (26 May.)[Free Full Text]
4. Campbell NC, Thain J, Deans HG, Ritchie LD, Rawles JM, Squair JL. Secondary prevention clinics for coronary heart disease: randomised trial of effect on health. BMJ 1998;316:1434-7.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
5. Dalal HM, Evans PH. Achieving national service framework standards for cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention. BMJ 2003;326:481-4.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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