The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is warning that patients with heart and circulatory conditions are having difficulty in getting treatment during the pandemic.

Around half of people with such diseases have found it harder to get medical treatment since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began, according to a survey, it said.

In addition, almost a third have found it harder to get the medicines they need, according to the YouGov poll of 1,409 UK adults with known heart and circulatory conditions.

The charity stressed that difficulties in accessing vital treatment and care 'could have a damaging impact on people’s health, and even result in an increase in deaths', as well as drive 'a tidal wave of increased NHS pressure' as patients becoming sicker while awaiting hospital investigations and treatment.

The findings also show that of the those who found it more difficult to access medical treatment from a healthcare professional during the pandemic: 41% said they’d had a planned test, surgery or procedure postponed or cancelled; 48% cited lack of available face-to-face appointments as a reason for this; and 27% voiced concern about the risk of developing COVID-19 from having been in a healthcare setting.

The BHF is now calling on the government and the NHS 'to urgently address the immediate needs of heart and circulatory patients who have had care postponed during the coronavirus pandemic'.

This, it says, can be achieved by increasing the number of heart procedures, surgeries and tests carried out, as well as restoring NHS support systems for people with conditions such as heart failure.

“At the very least, around 28,000 planned inpatient heart procedures have been deferred in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in England alone. This backlog will only get larger and the patients in need of treatment could get sicker as their care is delayed further,” said Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, the charity's associate medical director.

“If hospital investigations and procedures are delayed too long, it can result in preventable permanent long-term complications, such as heart failure. In addition, non-hospital-based health services must not be forgotten, as these enable people with heart and circulatory diseases to stay well and out of hospital,” she stressed.