Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that cholesterol data is collected and reported by GPs.

Measuring cholesterol is one of the mandated elements of the NHS Health Check, which is offered to individuals between the age of 40 and 74 years once every five years. Under the National Health Service Act 2006 and the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, local authorities have a legal duty to ensure that the specific tests and measures in the check are completed during the risk assessment and that the results are recorded. Where the risk assessment is conducted outside the person’s general practitioner (GP) practice, there is also a legal duty for the information to be forwarded to the person’s GP. The regulations also stipulate that key information relating to the check, including cholesterol levels, is communicated to the person as soon as reasonably practicable after the test has taken place.

Data on the cholesterol of patients with diabetes is collected by GPs through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicators. Practices receive payments for achievements against QOF indicators.

Following GP contract negotiations, QOF was reduced from April 2014 by more than a third, to release time for GPs to provide more personalised care. Data on the cholesterol of patients with other long term conditions collected from retired QOF indicators continues to be collected and monitored. The removal of these indicators does not mean that GPs should stop monitoring patients’ cholesterol. It is good clinical practice for GPs to discuss this important issue with their patients and offer advice and support.