Arrhythmia Alliance, the UK’s leading heart rhythm charity, is calling for collaborative action to reduce the number of strokes and deaths from atrial fibrillation (AF) in the UK each year.

Following a Freedom of Information request, Arrhythmia Alliance learned that more than half of all clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are not implementing NICE’s key recommendations on managing AF, with less than 40 per cent looking at heart rate control and only 40 per cent prescribing anticoagulation therapy. In addition, an estimated half a million people in the UK have undiagnosed AF. In addition, it is estimated that there are half a million people in the UK with undiagnosed AF.

The charity is calling on CCGs, healthcare professionals and the NHS to work together to reduce inequalities in AF treatment and unnecessary deaths by 2017.