NHS Wales Cardiovascular Atlas of Variation

The Cardiovascular Atlas of Variation was published in 2019 and follows a patient’s journey from the community through primary care, secondary care and, where necessary, through to the specialist centres in tertiary care.

It focuses on three main cardiac conditions: 

• Acute coronary syndromes
• Acute heart failure 
• Atrial fibrillation

The aim in publishing this Cardiovascular Atlas of Variation was to identify unwarranted variation in key aspects of cardiac care and to investigate the reasons for unwarranted variation, whether of overuse, underuse or both.

The presence of unwarranted variation indicates:

• Underuse of high-value interventions, often complicated by inequity because underuse tends to be greatest in the most-disadvantaged groups in the population
• Overuse of lower-value interventions that provide treatment of limited value or providing treatment to people who are only mildly affected and get little benefit

Health Maps version of Atlas.