Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with ministerial colleagues regarding the potential for the UK to become a global leader in AI-enabled cardiac diagnostics through partnerships with the third sector and academic institutions.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had discussions with Cardiac Risk in the Young on the use of its cardiac screening dataset to support the development of AI-enabled diagnostic tools.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Sudden cardiac death in the young is always a tragedy. Officials and Ministers from the Department have met with representatives from Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) on several occasions.
The Department understands that the data set was recently published. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death this spring. This public consultation will provide an opportunity for members of the public and stakeholders, including CRY, to draw the UK NSC’s attention to any relevant evidence and which could inform its recommendation.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the recording and classification of sudden cardiac deaths in people aged under 35.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the processing, analysis, and publication of death records in England and Wales. Further information is available on the ONS website, at the following link:
NHS England has a published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions (ICC) that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease or families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause. The specification states that specialist ICC services should follow recommendations for standards of care, best practice, care pathways, treatment algorithms, data collection, and audit.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential application of artificial intelligence for supporting the interpretation of electrocardiograms in screening for inherited cardiac conditions in people aged 14 to 35.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that artificial intelligence (AI) has enormous potential for improving healthcare across all areas of the National Health Service and social care, including for cardiac conditions.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is funding research into the potential impact of AI on diagnosis and treatment for major conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, and research into how the technology can be used to improve NHS services and reduce the burden of clinicians’ workloads.
Between 2017 and 2023, the Department has invested £148 million through the NIHR and an additional £123 million through the AI in Health and Care Award to research AI in healthcare.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department issues guidance to coroners on investigating potential cardiac causes in unexplained deaths of young people.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Coroners are independent judges and the Chief Coroner is responsible for providing national guidance and training. In 2014, the Chief Coroner issued joint guidance for coroners regarding investigations into potential cardiac causes of deaths in young people: https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/joint-guidance-for-coroners-and-coroners-officers-sudden-cardiac-death-inherited-heart-conditions/.
This guidance was developed in conjunction with the British Heart Foundation, Cardiac Risk in the Young, the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to prevent registered sex offenders from changing their names by deed poll.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The system for managing sex offenders and those that pose a risk of sexual harm is a crucial part of preventing sexual violence and delivering our mission to halve violence against women and girls.
The Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a range of legislative changes which will strengthen the management of registered sex offenders. Where the police consider it necessary to protect the public or children or vulnerable adults from sexual harm, it will enable them to serve a notice on offenders requiring them to seek the police’s authorisation before applying to change their name on a specified identity document (namely, a UK passport, driving licence or immigration document). The legislative changes will also require RSOs to notify the police of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance of using it, or if that is not reasonably practicable, as far in advance of their using it as it reasonably practicable.
Our name change restriction focuses on ID documents, which are required for work, overseas travel, and accessing services, because that is where name changes can be monitored and a restriction robustly enforced.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the cardiology workforce to meet demand for inherited cardiac condition diagnosis in young people.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no specific assessment. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to ensure health services meet the needs of their populations, including cardiology services.
NHS England has a published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease or families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause. This describes the service model and guidance that should be followed to support diagnosis and treatment of patients or family members. It also includes the requirement for specialised inherited cardiac conditions services to investigate suspected cases.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of deaths from cardiac issues in young people.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no specific assessment. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to ensure health services meet the needs of their populations, including cardiology services.
NHS England has a published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease or families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause. This describes the service model and guidance that should be followed to support diagnosis and treatment of patients or family members. It also includes the requirement for specialised inherited cardiac conditions services to investigate suspected cases.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of piloting targeted cardiac screening programmes for higher-risk groups of young people.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is guided by the independent scientific advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The UK NSC makes its recommendations based on internationally recognised criteria and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process. Where the committee is confident that offering screening provides more good than harm, they recommend a screening programme.
The UK NSC last reviewed screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death in people under the age of 39 years old in 2019. The conclusion of that review was that population screening should not be offered, as research showed that current tests are not accurate enough to use on young people with no symptoms.
In the absence of an accurate enough test and an understanding of who to treat, cost-effectiveness modelling of a potential screening programme would not be informative.
It would not be ethically appropriate to pilot a screening programme in circumstances where the current screening test is not accurate enough.
The UK NSC will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death this spring.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has undertaken recent cost-effectiveness modelling of cardiac screening for people aged 14 to 35.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is guided by the independent scientific advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The UK NSC makes its recommendations based on internationally recognised criteria and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process. Where the committee is confident that offering screening provides more good than harm, they recommend a screening programme.
The UK NSC last reviewed screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death in people under the age of 39 years old in 2019. The conclusion of that review was that population screening should not be offered, as research showed that current tests are not accurate enough to use on young people with no symptoms.
In the absence of an accurate enough test and an understanding of who to treat, cost-effectiveness modelling of a potential screening programme would not be informative.
It would not be ethically appropriate to pilot a screening programme in circumstances where the current screening test is not accurate enough.
The UK NSC will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death this spring.