Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce the effects of and (b) improve outcomes for (i) coronary heart disease and (ii) cardiovascular disease.

NHS England continues to support implementation of the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Outcomes Strategy. It is working closely with Public Health England (PHE) on a range of preventative issues which support implementation of the strategy and promote wider improvement in outcomes. These include addressing areas such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol together with the further development of NHS Health Checks. NHS England is also working with partners to support actions that promoteearlier diagnosis of conditions such as atrial fibrillation, heart failure and valve disease and improved survival from out of hospital cardiac arrest.

NHS England also hosts an expert forum which brings together the relevant National Clinical Directors, the main relevant national charities, the National CVD Intelligence Network, PHE and the Department. This collaborative continues to coordinate delivery of the work which was initiated in the CVD Outcomes Strategy.

As part of its work on the seven days services programme, NHS Improving Quality has surveyed 24/7 diagnostic service provision (including cardiac physiology) and has announced early adopter seven day sites. One of these adopter sites focuses on provision of seven day services to support cardiac interventions and improved bed usage. More details can be found at:

http://www.nhsiq.nhs.uk/media/2422315/papworth_foundation_cs.pdf