Northern Ireland facing heart health 'ticking time-bomb'

Northern Ireland is at risk from a "ticking time-bomb" in terms of heart health, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has warned.

The charity says that in 2023 in NI there were 4,227 deaths across all ages due to cardiovascular disease, the highest figure since 2012.

That means that each month 350 families in Northern Ireland will lose a loved one to cardiovascular conditions like a heart attack and stroke.

The foundation said there is still a lack of awareness of the scale of the problem both in society and in government.

Sharon Hare's sister Joanne McKenna died of heart failure last year, aged just 46.

Joanne, from Holywood, in County Down, first had a cardiac arrest at the age of 29 while on holiday in Canada.

A hotel security guard saved her life when he called the emergency services, performed CPR and accessed a defibrillator.

Afterwards Joanne had an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) implanted in her chest.

"Thankfully she recovered from that, but everything changed for us as a family and for Joanne," Sharon told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"At 29, your life's ahead for you, but that changed everything for her.

"We're a tight family and from 29 until things going wrong for us last year, Jo had a really good life. She was a vibrant, loving, caring, wonderful sister and friend and daughter and we were just with her all the time," she said.

Ms Hare said her sister had a strong personality and although life had changed she still "got on with things".

Joanne McKenna, centre, with her sisters Sharon, left, and Kathy

'Centre of our family'

When her health deteriorated at the end of 2023, Joanne was told that a transplant was the only option.

After three weeks of intense testing and finally being put on the transplant waiting list, Joanne's name had to be removed after only 10 days as she would have been too sick to receive a heart.

She died of heart failure on 21 February 2024.

"We were devastated that the strong centre of our family was gone," Sharon said.

"Although we knew about Joanne's diagnosis for several years, it was only in the last few months that we really understood the devastation heart disease can cause."

Action needed

Fearghal McKinney said a plan is needed to address the scale of heart disease in Northern Ireland

Fearghal McKinney, head of the British Heart Foundation for Northern Ireland, said: "It's clear that in Northern Ireland, people just don't understand that there's a problem – that's societally we don't understand that there's a problem and from a governmental perspective we don't understand that there's a problem."

He said in order to make a difference they need to make sure that people understand the risks.

"Let us not shy away from what is a ticking time-bomb on heart health," he said.