Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve public understanding of cardiovascular risk factors including cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and smoking.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals on managing cholesterol levels for patients, commonly referred to as lipid measurement, across health and care settings. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng238/chapter/Recommendations

Healthcare professionals are expected to follow NICE guidance in the care and treatment of individual patients.

Behavioural advice across the NHS Better Health apps, for example Couch to 5K, Active 10, and Quit Smoking, focus on supporting individuals to reduce cardiovascular risk by increasing physical activity, improving diet and weight management, and stopping smoking.

In addition, NHS England also supports awareness initiatives led by external partners, through communications and stakeholder engagement activity, such as Blood Pressure UK’s Know Your Numbers! And HEART UK’s National Cholesterol Month.