Current Climate & Challenges:

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains England’s leading cause of death and a top NHS priority. Over 425,000 people are currently waiting for routine heart care — a 4% year-on-year rise — with 40% waiting more than 18 weeks. These delays are linked to serious harm, including over 400 deaths annually from prolonged waits for procedures such as TAVI (average 142 days).

The challenge extends beyond treatment delays: prevention and early intervention remain underused, diagnostics capacity is stretched, and workflow inefficiencies slow patient journeys. Inequalities compound these issues — women are 39% less likely to receive valve replacements, often face misdiagnosis, and patients in deprived areas experience longer waits and reduced access to advanced care.

These pressures increase emergency workloads, contribute to winter crises in A&E, and demand a system-wide shift toward earlier detection, timely intervention, streamlined care pathways, and equitable access.

Timeliness of the Event:

The NHS 10-Year Health Plan (published 3 July 2025) identifies CVD as one of its earliest action areas, aiming to prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes, and dementia cases by 2029. This strategy is underpinned by three shifts:

• From hospital to community
• From analogue to digital
• From sickness to prevention

In addition, the plan prioritises:

• Diagnostics expansion (e.g., echocardiography) to speed early detection
• Intervention optimisation to shorten waits and improve outcomes
• Workflow redesign to remove bottlenecks and improve continuity of care
• Standardising remote monitoring via wearables by 2028 to support proactive management and reduce admissions

With cardiovascular demand growing and inequities widening, CardioVision 2026 is a timely platform to bring together policy makers, clinicians, commissioners, and innovators to turn national strategy into practical prevention, intervention, diagnostics, and workflow improvements.

Key Subjects Covered:

• Policy alignment: Translating NHS Plan priorities into cardiovascular service models that integrate prevention, early intervention, and efficient diagnostics.
• Prevention & population health: Embedding NHS Health Checks, lifestyle interventions, and community outreach to reduce risk factors and disease incidence.
• Intervention pathways: Reducing waiting times for procedures such as TAVI, improving referral speed, and ensuring timely surgical and catheter-based treatments.
• Diagnostics capacity: Tackling bottlenecks in echocardiography, imaging, and testing; deploying community diagnostic centres to support early detection.
• Workflow redesign: Streamlining care pathways, from primary care referral through to treatment and follow-up, using data-driven process improvements.
• Digital & remote care: Scaling virtual wards, wearable-enabled monitoring, and integrated community follow-up to improve patient experience and outcomes.
• Equity & access: Addressing gender and regional disparities in prevention, diagnostics, and intervention services.
• Workforce & governance: Building multidisciplinary teams and ensuring service models align with NHS quality frameworks and workforce transformation strategies.

Why Attend:

By attending CardioVision 2026, you will:

• Gain strategic insight into delivering the NHS’s prevention and intervention goals for CVD.
• Learn practical methods to reduce waiting times while embedding prevention and early diagnosis into every stage of the patient journey.
• Explore workflow solutions that improve efficiency and patient outcomes across community and hospital care.
• Understand how to expand diagnostics capacity and integrate new technologies effectively.
• Hear case studies on remote monitoring, virtual wards, and community-based intervention programmes.
• Discover equity-focused strategies to close the gender and regional gap in cardiovascular health outcomes.
• Network with senior NHS leaders, cardiologists, commissioners, and innovators to share best practice and form collaborations.