Cardiovascular Disease: Prevention

Jas Athwal Excerpts

Thursday 13th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jas Athwal (Ilford South) (Lab)]

May I say what an honour it is to serve under the chairmanship of such a multi-talented, multi-functional Chair?

[David Mundell (in the Chair)]

You can speak for as long as you want. [Laughter.]

[Jas Athwal]

I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing this important debate.

Cardiovascular disease changes lives, takes lives and robs families of loved ones. I speak from personal experience: my father has been gone for 29 years and my mother for 28 years because of cardiovascular disease, so I know it absolutely robs families of loved ones. Across the UK, cardiovascular disease alone is responsible for one in four premature deaths. Beyond the personal impact it has on families, cardiovascular disease also places an enormous burden on our NHS, costing more than £7.5 billion per year. Preventive medicine and early detection can save lives, keep families together and reduce the burden on our NHS.

While preventive measures can take many different forms, which my colleagues have addressed today, I will focus on early diagnosis, as I know personally how critical it can be. In 2023, having cycled 85 miles on a Sunday, I felt the healthiest and strongest I had ever felt in my life, but one precautionary test taken purely to reassure myself that I was fit shattered my illusions and changed my life, but ultimately saved it. I was diagnosed with chronic heart disease. Within weeks, I had a triple heart bypass. Had I not taken that test, I believe that I would not be here today. Early detection saved my life, and it can save millions more.

In my constituency of Ilford South, a community-based study was conducted across four GP practices by Dr Laskar and Professor Lloyd from Barts hospital. Non-specialist healthcare workers used handheld echocardiogram devices to screen 518 local people. The study found that 22% of those screened were referred for specialist assessments, potentially saving the lives of one in five of those screened. The study in Ilford South demonstrates how we can detect serious conditions early without requiring expensive hospital visits later.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley (Sonia Kumar) just said, prevention and early intervention save lives. By investing in local healthcare services and using tools such as the handheld echocardiogram device, we can catch problems sooner, treat people faster and relieve pressure on our overstretched hospitals sooner. Early diagnosis is not just a medical advantage, but lifesaving. It delivers more time with loved ones, less strain on our NHS and a future in which fewer lives are cut short. We have a golden opportunity to prolong life and to give the gift of life, and I urge the Minister to grab it with both hands.

--- Later in debate ---

[Stephen Kinnock]

This has been an interesting debate on so many levels. I thank you for that clarification, Mr Mundell.

I was just talking about the fact that around 70% of the CVD burden is preventable, and that the causes include obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking. All those factors can be reduced by behaviour changes, early identification and treatment. In England, the NHS health check is a free check-up for people between 40 and 74. It is a wide-reaching programme delivered by local authorities in England. This CVD prevention programme aims to prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease, as well as dementia for older patients. It engages over 1.4 million people a year and, through behavioural and clinical interventions, prevents around 500 heart attacks or strokes annually.

I agree with the hon. Member for Strangford that the National Audit Office report shows that there is still so much more to be done. That is why we have asked officials to be more ambitious, developing policy proposals for how that programme can go even further. In the meantime, we are focused on delivering a new digital NHS health check, available through the NHS app, so that people can assess, understand and act on their CVD risk at home. We want to make it easier for people to access that programme, especially our constituents who have caring or childcare responsibilities, or cannot easily get to their GP surgery during opening hours. The creation of a state-of-the-art national digital NHS check service will improve access to this lifesaving check.

The hon. Member was right to mention diabetes as a key risk for CVD. Each year, the NHS health check identifies 22,000 people with high blood sugar who are referred on to primary care for further assessment and management. GPs can refer people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes into the Healthier You NHS diabetes prevention programme. The programme has been highly effective: some 35,000 people have been referred to it by their GP, and over 20,000 have started the programme since September 2020. For people who complete that programme, it can cut the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 37%. For those who already have diabetes and are overweight or obese, the NHS type 2 path to remission programme is available. This joint initiative between NHS England and Diabetes UK aims to support eligible people with type 2 diabetes to achieve clinically significant weight loss, improve blood glucose levels and reduce the need for diabetes-related medication. A recent study found that almost a third of patients with type 2 diabetes who completed the programme went into remission.

Around half of heart attacks and strokes are a result of high blood pressure. A third of adults have high blood pressure and, worryingly, almost a third of these conditions are currently untreated, meaning that over 4 million people do not know that they have high blood pressure. It is often referred to as the silent killer, as high blood pressure is largely symptomless. The tragedy is that the treatment is so cheap and effective. We could prevent around 17,000 heart attacks and save more than £20 million in healthcare costs alone over three years just by treating 80% of patients on target.

The hon. Member for Strangford also mentioned high levels of cholesterol as a key risk factor in CVD. For every three NHS health checks delivered, one person is found to have high cholesterol, and there are well-known health inequalities in CVD affecting underserved communities in England. Addressing undetected and poorly managed high blood pressure and raised cholesterol is key to preventing CVD and reducing health inequalities.

There are effective drug treatments. Statins are readily available and very cheap. They can reduce an individual’s risk of CVD in four to six weeks. If we improve treatment rates for people with CVD to 95%, more than 18,000 CVD events, such as heart attacks and strokes, may be prevented over three years. We will look closely at how we can get that done. The hon. Member for Strangford called for the introduction of Lp(a) tests. As I mentioned, that is not currently recommended by NICE guidelines. I have taken account of his other remarks, including his request for a meeting and engagement with system partners. The Minister for Public Health and Prevention will take all those requests on board. She is the right person for him to meet, given that she leads in this policy area.

Smoking costs health and care services £3 billion a year—resources that could be freed up to deliver millions more appointments, scans and operations. The cost of smoking to our economy is even greater, with around £18 billion lost in productivity every year. Smokers are a third more likely to be off work sick, which is why we introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill: the biggest public health intervention in a generation. It will break the cycle of addiction and disadvantage, and put us on track towards a smoke-free UK. That will make a real difference in constituencies where smoking contributes to the cycle of poverty and ill health. We are also supporting local stop smoking services with an additional £70 million this financial year.

Today’s debate has shown what a challenging and complex area this is. The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans), raised a range of issues. I will ask the Minister for Public Health and Prevention to write to him on all his points, many of which I think would be best dealt with in correspondence.

[Jas Athwal]

The Minister makes powerful points. Does he agree that we should consider a wider, holistic approach, taking into account planning and advertising—for instance, children going to school and having access to the proliferation of chicken shops and fast-food shops, and being exposed to, on average, 13 to 15 junk food adverts? That would help to limit the number of heart diseases later down the line.

[Stephen Kinnock]

My hon. Friend is right that prevention should focus on as early as possible in the life of our young people. Bad habits form at early ages. That is not helped by the behaviour of some aspects of our economy, and the way in which products are advertised. It is essential that we move to a model of prevention that is a partnership between the Government, our communities and business. We are taking action against the advertisement of certain products before the 9 o’clock watershed. We are also cracking down on energy drinks, which are really pernicious in terms of the amount of sugar, caffeine and other deeply unhealthy components they contain.

My hon. Friend is right that we are genuinely all in this together. We need that partnership with the private sector, and a change in mindset around healthy and nutritious food. That needs to be put into schools through community health, and through working with parents and communities to change the habits of our country. We have a gargantuan challenge ahead of us, but our Government are absolutely committed to facing it, and that prevention strategy will be at the heart of our 10-year plan. It is one of the key shifts from sickness to prevention.

That leads me to my closing remarks. We have seen today what a challenging and complex area this is. It is a challenge that requires sustained action on a number of risk factors, but I assure colleagues that this Government will leave no stone unturned in getting premature deaths from heart disease and stroke down by a quarter for people under the age of 75 within the next year.

In my contribution, I have sought to demonstrate our commitment to getting on with the shift from sickness to prevention with our cast-iron commitment to expanding NHS health checks, the shift from hospital and community by making it easier for people to get checks at their convenience and at home, and the shift from analogue to digital through an innovative and expanded digital service. I once again thank the hon. Member for Strangford for securing this important debate, and thank all hon. Members across all parties for their excellent contributions. Watch this space: we will continue to work on this issue with focus and at pace.