Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the cost-saving benefits of (a) mitral valve repair and (b) open heart surgery.

No such assessment has been made, as there is no direct comparison between mitral valve leaflet repair and conventional open heart surgery. Patients must be assessed by clinicians as inoperable or very high risk to undergo mitral valve repair and the procedure would be expected to provide sustained quality of life benefits.