Malta has placed fifteenth in an EU table which ranks countries by the quality of cardiovascular care.

Luxembourg and France came firstand Romania and Bulgaria came last, highlighting the fact that money counts when it comes to heart care.

Health Consumer Powerhouse, a private company, said its survey demonstrated that comprehensive prevention programmes -- such as screening for cardiovascular risks and helping smokers quit -- paid dividends for both governments and patients.

"By denying patients proper preventive care, countries put patients at risk and at the same time undermine the
effectiveness of their healthcare expenditure," said research director Dr Arne Bjornberg.

Screening programmes around Europe were generally found to be inadequate and there was also widespread under-use of medications such as cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and Sanofi-Aventis's blood thinner Plavix, despite well-accepted guidelines.

The survey measured a number of factors in assessing the overall level of cardiovascular care, including patient rights, access to treatment, prevention, procedures and clinical outcomes.

The full ranking was as follows: 1. Luxembourg 2. France 3. Norway 4. Switzerland 5. Austria 6. Netherlands 7. Sweden 8. Slovenia 9. UK 10. Finland 11. Italy 12. Denmark 13. Germany 14. Belgium 15. Malta 16. Ireland 17. Spain 18. Cyprus 19. Estonia 20. Slovakia 21. Czech Republic 22. Portugal 23. Greece 24. Hungary 25. Lithuania
26. Poland 27. Latvia 28. Bulgaria 29. Romania