Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve early diagnosis and treatment of aortic dissection.
NHS England has established 23 urgent and emergency care networks across the four regions of England to ensure that services work together to deliver appropriate care for patients in need of emergency and urgent care, including aortic dissection.
Some parts of the country have arranged rotas across hospitals so that specialist surgeons can be involved in the care of patients with aortic dissection. The cardiac clinical reference group of NHS England is considering how this practice can be encouraged elsewhere.