Strokes: Atrial Fibrillation

(asked on 1st November 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce atrial fibrillation related strokes.


Answered by
 Portrait
David Mowat
This question was answered on 8th November 2016

NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement Team is taking action to promote the use of GRASP-AF (Guidance on Risk Assessment and Stroke Prevention for Atrial Fibrillation) within general practices in England. This is an audit tool developed by and trialled in the National Health Service which greatly simplifies the process of identifying patients with AF who are not receiving the right management to help reduce their risk of stroke.

The Sustainable Improvement Team is also working with NHS RightCare, a programme committed to improving people’s health and outcomes, to help promote the use of GRASP-AF in the programme’s 65 first wave clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS RightCare’s ‘Commissioning for Value’ packs help CCGs identify priority areas such as AF, and the GRASP-AF tool provides a practical method of addressing any inequalities. NHS England’s intention is that the work with NHS RightCare will increase the number of CCGs using GRASP-AF in a systematic way.

All local authorities in England are required to offer the NHS Health Check programme, with the majority commissioning general practice to provide them on their behalf. Over 15 million people aged 40 – 74 are, have been or will be eligible for an NHS Health Check between 2014 and 2018. The programme’s best practice guidance recommends that a pulse check is carried out as part of the process of taking a blood pressure reading and those individuals who are found to have an irregular pulse rhythm should be referred for further investigation.

Information on the numbers of AF related strokes is not collected centrally.

Reticulating Splines