Understanding our Advice (PDF, 478K, 2.15 mins)
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) has issued advice to NHSScotland on B-type natriuretic peptide testing for patients with suspected heart failure. B-type natriuretic tests are simple blood tests that can help establish if someone has heart failure.
We have advised that B-type natriuretic peptide testing should be more widely available as a test for people who have suspected heart failure and we describe the circumstances in which it should be used in NHSScotland.
We have also produced a booklet to explain our advice on B-type natriuretic peptide testing to people who do not have specialist knowledge in this area.
The booklet explains what heart failure is, what B-type natriuretic peptides are, how we formed our advice and the evidence we considered. It also explains what the advice means for people who have undergone, or may have to undergo, a B-type natriuretic peptide test.
The full evidence is discussed in detail in our report called 'Health Technology Assessment 6: The use of B-type natriuretic peptides in the investigation of patients with suspected heart failure'.
Click here to access the report.