SLOUGH residents at risk of a serious heart condition will be offered potentially life-saving treatment before it is too late.

A new prevention programme that has launched in the town this month will target those at serious risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD).

The aim of the new programme is to target those at risk of developing the disease and referring them to a programme that encourages and helps individuals to make changes to their lifestyle and take responsibility for their own health and well-being.

The ultimate goal of the new programme is to lower the rate of heart attacks, unplanned cardiac related hospital admissions, and reducing the number of people who die early as a result of undiagnosed CVD.

A number of unhealthy habits have been named among the common causes of CVD, including smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, poor nutrition and drinking too much alcohol, all of which are big problems in Slough.

The contract for the prevention programme has been awarded to Solutions 4 Health, a Berkshire-based organisation that aims to tackle health inequalities by providing public health services. The contract for the new integrated CVD prevention programme, funded through the Better Care Fund, will look to target and prevent high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease.

The council has outlined that people who would benefit from the programme will be referred by their GP at their surgery, and that this is not a self-referral service. The prevention programme will also link up with NHS Health Checks so that individuals at risk can be identified and offered help sooner rather than later.

Cllr Sabia Hussain, commissioner for health and social care, said: “We are really pleased that through the Better Care Fund we are able to offer a cardiovascular disease prevention programme in Slough. We wanted to provide a service that targets those at risk and works with them to manage their own health and well-being needs. Preventing heart disease and diabetes is a public health priority as it can reduce the burden to the taxpayer, reduce hospital admissions and more importantly, save lives.”

The new programme will act as a replacement for the previous Healthy Hearts initiative which had become an important service to residents of Slough in making them aware of potential health risks.