Hospital holds pop-up clinic to reach community
Doctors at Wexham Park Hospital, in Slough, said they noticed that while people of South Asian ethnicity make up 50% of the local population, less than 5% of patients in their HVD clinic were from that community.
Navin Chandra, a consultant cardiologist at the Berkshire hospital said: "It is mainly due to a lack of awareness, perhaps a lack of language specific information."
The disease is most common in the elderly and symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, heart palpitations and swollen ankles and feet, according to the NHS.
The pop-up event was organised with the UK Valve for Life initiative, which aims to improve access to life-saving and life-changing, minimally invasive heart valve interventions.
Speaking at the event, Dr Chandra said there may be "no symptoms at all" in the early stages of the disease.
"So, capturing it early and knowing about it early is quite important," he said. "We're here to raise awareness by being out in the community.
"It is mainly due to a lack of awareness perhaps a lack of language specific information, not feeling fully aware of what the symptoms might be and when to seek help."
Doctors could pick up "someone that has low symptom burden but has got a significant problem with their heart", Dr Chandra added.
"There are people out there that might have symptoms but don't know what to put it down to. Some people might just think it's part of being older."
Slough's Labour MP Tan Dhesi was at the event and told the BBC: "Heart valve disease is both common and serious.
"However, early diagnosis and intervention can help to save lives.
"We held a roundtable discussion as to how do we deal with the problem, especially within Slough, of very low diagnosis rates, especially within the South Asian community."
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