Call for heart patients to be allowed self-test their medication

THOUSANDS of Irish people with heart disease and other blood-clotting disorders could regain control of their lives if they were able to self-test the effectiveness of their medication, a patients’ support group has claimed.

AntiCoagulation Europe (ACE), a charity providing information and advice to people on oral anticoagulation therapy, is campaigning to have the strips for self-testing available on prescription in Ireland in the same way as they are in Britain and the North.

Anticoagulant drugs help prevent the formation of harmful clots in blood vessels by decreasing the blood's ability to clump together. Although these drugs are sometimes called blood thinners, they do not actually thin the blood.

Eve Knight, one of the founders of ACE, said self-testing was a logical and more convenient option for many patients who have to visit their health professional regularly to have their therapy checked.

Ms Knight pointed out that self-testing was not a new concept it had been established in diabetes for many years.

She said that as well as allowing patients to take greater control of their lives, self-testing also reduced the burden on the health service by around €66 per patient.

Also, in the past few years the availability and the cost of the technology to allow patients self-test had improved dramatically.

ACE reckons that there are about 45,000 Irish people on anti-coagulation therapy but not every patient would be a suitable candidate for self-testing.

"Self-testing is not suitable for every patient and ideally the suitability or otherwise should be agreed between the patient and his or her healthcare professional," she pointed out.

It was essential, that a clear protocol was drawn up that determined a range of issues regarding the testing period, range and tolerance, methodology, reporting procedures and action.

In Britain, ACE works closely with the British Cardiac Patients' Association, the Children's Heart Foundation, and Healthy Heart UK.

The organisation was founded in 2001 and since then has provided information and held meetings with patients in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and the Netherlands.