East London Cardiovascular Disease Prevention (ELoPE)
What we do
Our aim is to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in our local community, working in partnership with the British Heart Foundation. 
Newham, Tower Hamlets and other local boroughs have some of the highest levels of childhood obesity and diabetes in the country. ELoPE is an effort by the local healthcare community to address a problem that’s reaching epidemic levels.
It's a team effort and we couldn’t possibly do this without the support of our patients, partners and community. Working with schools and local businesses, we want to ensure a healthier future for our area and that starts here.
Our partners
ELoPE is a multidisciplinary collaborative and we’re proud to work with many fantastic organisations, including:
- Barts Charity
- British Heart Foundation
- Clinical Effectiveness Group (CEG)
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
- NHS England
- Queen Mary University of London
- Sugar Smart
- UCL Partners
Contact us or learn more about our projects below.
Calling all community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians: survey on monitoring and managing lipids
We are seeking feedback to identify and develop training support for community pharmacy professionals developing clinical services, particularly in cardiovascular disease prevention and lipid optimisation.
Hypercholesterolemia is one of the most significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and accounts for a third of all heart attacks. In England, the percentage of people aged 40 to 74 who have had a cholesterol reading and CVD risk assessment is estimated at 49%, however the national ambition is to reach 75% by 2029.
High risk CVD patients are sometimes asymptomatic, although can be identified by routine blood pressure testing, serum lipids and blood sugar testing. Offering point of care testing (POCT) in community pharmacy can improve access and flexibility for patients. This enables medicines optimisation, particularly in addressing health inequalities and treating patients closer to home. In addition, this has the potential to complement the established opportunistic blood pressure testing that is currently commissioned by NHS England and provides a more complete assessment of CVD risk in line with both national and international guidelines.
Barts Heart Centre have collaborated with Heart UK and North East London Local Pharmaceutical Committee to seek how they can support community pharmacy to further develop clinical services and in particular conduct holistic CVD reviews. To support and develop an educational training framework for community pharmacy professionals in monitoring and managing lipids, we want to support your training needs.
Please complete this short survey which is a self-assessment of your confidence in managing lipids.
Thank you for your support.
If you have any further questions regarding the questionnaire please contact Jagjot Chahal, Cardiovascular Prevention Lead Pharmacist at Barts Health NHS Trust.
Healthy Heart assemblies for primary schools
We're delighted to offer free healthy heart talks to all primary schools in our local boroughs.
By shaping a healthier future for the children of east London, we aim to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in our population, where the rates of heart disease are higher than anywhere else in London.
Delivered in person and virtually by Barts Health cardiology experts, the sessions, which are aimed at year six pupils, are fun, engaging and interactive. They educate children about the importance of heart health covering eating healthily, being active and a life without smoking.
To book a healthy heart session on a date that suits you, please email us.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training for secondary school teachers
CPR training will soon be mandatory across all secondary schools in England.
To support this, in collaboration with our resuscitation team we are offering free CPR training to secondary school teachers in the Barts Health catchment area. The training will offer teachers the confidence and competence to deliver CPR training to their pupils.
Training dates are offered to secondary school teachers from Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest. Sessions will be held at Barts Health or in the local community. To find out more or book a session, please email us.
City talks for a healthier workforce
To improve the health of our City workers, we have launched webinars for the local business community on cardiovascular disease prevention, led by our consultant cardiologists. The aim is to reduce the CVD risk in the local community and within the City workforce.
If you want to:
- look after your staff
-
improve wellbeing
-
reduce sickness and largely preventable long-term conditions.
Then please get in touch. There is no set fee, but firms will be asked to make a donation to help raise funds for ELoPE projects, such as the Healthy Heart school talks.
All funds raised go directly into running the programme. Consultants give up their time free to support this important cause.
To book a session for your organisation, please email us.
Current talks
- Build back healthier: A cardiovascular perspective
- How to prevent a heart attack
ELoPE high risk clinic
The high risk CVD clinic at Barts Health is a specialist service to diagnose and treat people who may be at particularly high risk of heart disease such as those with:
- very high cholesterol levels
- a family history of heart disease
- heart disease at a young age.
The service is run by cardiology and diabetes consultants as well as a specialist nurses and pharmacists who offer the latest treatments and prevention therapies.
For more information, please contact us.
ELoPE staff drop-in
Now, more than ever, we need to look after the people who look after you. Barts Health has a large and busy workforce including a high number of people from BAME backgrounds whose risk of disease may be increased. We have therefore begun piloting drop-in clincis for staff to discuss their own heart health.