Nurse-led Clinic to reduce cholesterol levels achieves international recognition and £350,000 funding boost

A clinic led by nurses from the Cardiology Team at University Hospitals Dorset has seen remarkable results for patients needing to reduce their cholesterol levels.

The Secondary Prevention Lipid Clinic supports those who have experienced a cardiac event and has focused medication optimisation and dedicated patient education.

In just six months, 72% of patients have reached cholesterol levels below national targets, a figure that far surpasses the typical 30-40% improvement seen over a 12-month period.

Anthony Young, UHD Lead Cardiac Advanced Clinical Practitioner, said: "The nurse-led Secondary Prevention Lipid Clinic has shown that by supporting patients with education about their cholesterol levels and educating them on secondary prevention, optimising medication for lowering cholesterol and ensuring we take a vested interest in their health, we have been able to lower cholesterol in 72% of patients after six months to below the current recommended targets. This not only improves the health of our patients but reduces the cost on the NHS over 5-10 years."

The team’s achievements were recently recognised on an international stage at the ESC Preventive Cardiology Conference in Milan, where they had the opportunity to showcase their work and engage with cardiovascular professionals from across Europe.

Additionally, the clinic has been awarded a £350,000 grant by the British Heart Foundation to support the expansion of secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in east Dorset. This funding will enable collaborative work with three local Primary Care Networks, allowing the team to extend their reach and optimise cholesterol management for even more high-risk patients in the region.

This successful service has also been strongly supported by UHD Consultant Cardiologist, Professor Christopher Boos, whose guidance and encouragement have been instrumental in enabling the nurse-led team to pursue and achieve such outstanding outcomes.

Professor Boos said: “This is a considerable grant which is to my knowledge one of the first of its type to given in the UK. It has the genuine potential to transform the delivery of this novel nurse-delivered lipid lowering secondary prevention service across east Dorset. Its clinical impact is likely to be considerable. The wider implementation of this service is expected to significantly reduce secondary atherosclerotic cardiovascular events for patients with conformed significant coronary artery disease in our catchment.”

Anthony Young, UHD Lead Cardiac Advanced Clinical Practioner

Anthony Young, UHD Lead Cardiac Advanced Clinical Practioner presenting in Milan.