Martin Stiles: Heart services "in crisis"

Heart services are being described as "in crisis" as much-needed drugs lack funding. 

The Cardiac Society is calling on Pharmac to cover chronic heart failure medicines with their funding boost.

The drugs have been standard in cardiac care in the UK, Australia, and Canada; but here in New Zealand they are only funded for type 2 diabetics who meet certain criteria. 

Martin Stiles is the Chair of the NZ Cardiac Society, and he joins Andrew Dickens to discuss further. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here we go again. In crisis is the word of
the year, is it not. Heart services are now being
described as in crisis and they need much needed drugs
and they need funding. The Cardiac Society is calling on
FARMAC to cover chronic heart failure medicines with their funding boost.

(00:20):
The drugs have been standard in cardiac care in the UK,
Australia and Canada, but here in New Zealand they're only
funded for type two diabetics who meet certain criteria. This
is while cardiovascular disease remains our number one cause of mortality.
So the chair of the New Zealand Cardiac Society, Martin Styles,
is joining me. Good morning to you, mattin morning and

(00:42):
you good. Did you feel a little bit left out
with all the FARMAC and the funding news about cancer
and not hearts.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, we as a cardiology community have been watching the
news closely with all the cancer funding that's been talked
about on the media, and we are delighted to see
that the cancer patients are getting more funding, in fact
even more funding than they were initially promised. However, as
you've already mentioned, cardivascular disease remains the number one killer

(01:11):
of New Zealanders. So we meet to sure we need
to make sure that the funding that's been given to
far MAC is distributed equitably across all diseases.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
And why haven't these drugs been funded before?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well, that's a good question. I mean, we know that
if a patient with heart failure is given optimal therapy
with drugs, they can extend their period between their diagnosis
and being hospitalized or dying by about eight years, which
is a very long time, as you can probably imagine.
So we're keen to see these drugs funded. There's many

(01:46):
classes of drugs that could help, but at the moment,
as you point out, you have to have a really
narrow range of things. You have to have both diabetes
and a particular type of heart failure and a few
other criteria that we have to then right to the
government and ask permission to get funding for it.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Okay, So what happens if you don't get funding for it.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, you can pay for it yourself. It's about one
hundred dollars a month, and for some people that's achievable,
but for many people it's not. And I think the
other issue that we're finding in health across New Zealand
is an inequity between those who have money to fund
their own medications or pay for their own surgery and
those who don't. And for instance, if we're looking at
Mariing Pacific Island patients, if you're under the age of

(02:26):
fifty and a Mario Pacific Island patient person, you are
something like five times more likely to get heart failure
than a parky heart patient. And so there's these inequity
in our society, which is compounded by the fact that
these drugs aren't funded.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Have you been talking to political parties, because let's be
honest about it, the increase in cancer funding came from
great lobbying to the National Party to make it part
of an election campaign. Have you been doing the same Yeah,
well haven't.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
The Cancer Society has been doing a great job of that,
and I think we need to up our game perhaps
in this regard. Yes, the chair of the New Zealand
cadect Network has spoken with David Seamo. I understand. I
don't know the outcome of that meeting, but we are
pushing hard to get these drugs funded.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
How much money do you need?

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, the issue with healthcare, as I'm sure you're aware,
is that healthcare has this tendency to soak up as
much money as you give it. But on the other hand,
if you look at it another way, if you're able
to treat these patients and prevent their hospitalization, prevent them
from being unwell, missing work or whatever, then actually you
reap the economic benefits downstream. So I see it not

(03:36):
as a cost but as an investment for New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
How can people get in touch with you and help out.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
With the lobbying, well, I would suggest I'm the chair
of the cardect Society, so it's an organization of cardiovascular
professionals across New Zealand. But places like the Heart Foundation,
they're quite good for lobbying. People can talk to their
own mp people can perhaps approach Farmak directly. And I
think if you're listening to this, then you've got heart

(04:03):
failure and maybe that you're missing out on a really
important therapy that you could lobby and help us get
these things funded.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Madam Styles at the chair of the New Zealand card
Ex Society, thank you so much for your time today,
Have yourself a great morning, and there we go. It started.
You fund one area and other areas come up, and
that's just the way human nature is.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
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