Cardiac liaison: crossing the primary secondary care interface

A cardiac liaison nursing service was the key element of the innovative Southampton Heart Integrated care Project (SHIP). Cardiac liaison nurses provided continuous integrated care, both within and outside hospital to patients with a myocardial infarction or newly diagnosed angina. The principal characteristic of this model of liaison nursing was the facilitation of patient follow-up care in the community with the primary aims of improving quality of life and symptom control and minimising the risk of further cardiac events and death. Once patients were referred to the primary care team, cardiac liaison nurses did not provide direct patient care, but supported practice nurses in the provision of long term follow-up for patients with established ischaemic heart disease. This model of liaison nursing differs from the more traditional approach in which direct care is provided by a hospital based nurse after patients' discharge to the community. This paper describes the innovative cardiac liaison nurse service in Southampton, examines the challenges encountered in crossing the primary secondary care interface and highlights the relative advantages of this different kind of liaison nursing.