Dear [Insert name] 

I am writing as a constituent and a member of the British Society for Heart Failure (BSH) working in [insert constituency/ area] to ask for your support to improve timely and equitable access to diagnosis, specialist care, and evidence-based treatment for people living with heart failure. 

More than one million people in the UK are living with diagnosed heart failure, with around 200,000 new diagnoses each year, while an estimated 400,000 people may be living with heart failure without a diagnosis. It is one of the leading causes of emergency hospital admission in older adults and places a substantial burden on patients, families, primary care, community services, and hospitals. Despite this, heart failure remains under-recognised and under-prioritised. 

Recent clinical guidelines and the 2026 Modern Service Framework strengthen the case for earlier diagnosis and broader access to evidence-based therapies. These set out a clear vision for integrated, equitable, and timely heart failure services, with improved access to specialist multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), rapid diagnostics, medicines optimisation, and coordinated follow-up across the patient pathway. 

Despite this clear national direction, access remains inconsistent across [England / Scotland / Wales / Northern Ireland]. Many patients still experience delays in diagnosis, echocardiography, specialist review, optimisation of life-saving medicines, cardiac rehabilitation and ongoing follow-up. This unwarranted variation results in avoidable ill health, emergency admissions and increased pressure on our health services. 

[Optional 1–2 sentences on personal experience] 

I would be grateful if you could support this issue by: 

• Asking Ministers and local health system leaders what steps are being taken to implement national clinical guidance and Modern Service Framework recommendations consistently across our region. 

• Advocating for faster access to NT-proBNP blood testing, echocardiography, specialist heart failure assessment and rapid titration of evidence-based therapies (guideline-directed medical therapy). 

• Supporting action to reduce unwarranted regional variations in heart failure services and helping improve access to specialist multidisciplinary teams. 

• Meeting with clinicians, patients, and heart failure organisations like the BSH to hear directly about the challenges people face. 

• Supporting questions or briefings that promote earlier diagnosis, equitable access to treatment and improved outcomes for people living with heart failure. 

Patients who receive timely assessment by specialist heart failure teams and rapid initiation of guideline-directed medical therapy experience better survival, fewer hospital admissions and improved quality of life. Improving heart failure care is one of the clearest opportunities to transform patient outcomes while making far better use of health service resources. 

I would be pleased to provide a short BSH briefing outlining our current challenges, recent clinical guidelines and practical policy actions that could improve heart failure care nationally and locally. 

Thank you for taking the time to consider this important issue and for representing the health needs of your constituents. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Yours sincerely, 

[Add name, title, workplace and postcode] 

Dear [Insert Name] 

I am writing as your constituent and a member of the British Society for Heart Failure to ask how many lives you can help save? 

Right now, hundreds of people in [insert constituency] are walking around with undetected heart failure. Without an accurate diagnosis and treatment, many will die. 

Nationally, 400,000 people are living with undiagnosed heart failure, while hundreds of thousands more suffer from delayed care. Every missed case is a patient left to deteriorate until they end up being admitted to hospital. 

[Optional sentence: As a clinician working locally, I see the tragic consequences of late diagnosis every day.....] 

As our MP, you can help save lives and protect our local healthcare budget by taking immediate action: 

• Ask Ministers how many local constituents are dying from delayed heart failure diagnoses and what steps are being taken to implement national guidelines locally. 

• Push for urgent, equitable local access to NT-proBNP blood tests and echocardiography so patients are found before it is an emergency. 

• Advocate for specialist multidisciplinary teams to keep constituents out of hospital and save millions in acute care costs. 

Help ensure your constituents do not die because of preventable delays in heart failure care 

I welcome the opportunity to meet with you or provide further information. 

Yours sincerely, 

[Add name, title, workplace and postcode]