Jersey has been selected to join a scheme aiming to reduce deaths by heart disease by a quarter in 25 years.

An ambitious target has been set for the cardiology team at Jersey's General Hospital, who will try to help improve heart disease survival rates through prevention and early detection.

It is one of eight centres chosen for the British Heart Society's 25in25 pilot scheme. 

It includes four key areas to focus on:

1. Identifying those at risk of heart failure;
2. Diagnosing those with heart failure;
3. Getting patients on the correct medication;
4. Improving people's quality of life.

The cardiology team will start by trying to prevent people from developing heart disease, which is both one of the leading causes of premature death in Jersey.

Cardio Fellow Aaron Henry says the first thing to emphasise is that people who have symptoms should seek medical attention:

"[These include] breathlessness, exhaustion or swelling... they should really see their GP for a simple blood test."

Improvements people can make include living healthier by stopping smoking, drinking in moderation, eating healthily, exercising and getting outdoors more.

"All those sorts of things as little gains will add up."

4 in 5 patients are diagnosed with heart disease on an emergency admission to the hospital.

Getting patients on the proper medication with early detection can prevent hospital admissions in the first place.

This scheme is part of a broader initiative, 25in25, with seven other hospitals in the UK.

Pierre Le Page, Consultant Cardiologist, says any learning from it can be quickly applied at other sites.

"Say one of the sites in the UK finds doing a certain thing means that we pick up heart failure more quickly, then we can rapidly deploy that to our local population to do the same thing.

Similarly, if we find out something locally that helps with our population, the other pilot sites can take that on board.

I think the aim is with all of these pilot sites is between us we can work together."

If the pilot is successful, it will be rolled out nationally.