More than 10,000 heart patients have been registered on the Government's cardiovascular disease database, its annual report said today.
Heartwatch is a pilot programme aimed at reducing mortality resulting from cardiovascular diseases.
The report covers the first year of the programme, from March 2003 to April 2004. In total 10,041 patients were registered into the programme and data on continuing care visits was returned for 9,540 patients.
One of the main findings of the report was 177 new cases of diabetes were identified.
The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Mr Sean Power, stressed the important role played by GPs in healthcare.
"Lessons learned from Heartwatch will inform how we deliver secondary prevention to patients into the future," the Minister added. A detailed evaluation of the report is due out in 2005.
The data collected through Heartwatch will be available for use in the future in areas of audit, epidemiology and population health, resource planning and delivery.
