Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the detection and treatment of cases of familial hypercholesterolaemia as part of cardiovascular disease prevention programmes.

Integrated care boards are responsible for improving how familial hypercholesterolaemia is identified and treated, with support from national genetic testing services. Once someone is diagnosed, they are cared for using national guidance, which usually involves starting cholesterol-lowering treatment early and managing it closely to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Lipoprotein measurement is not currently recommended by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance. There are currently no medications available which specifically target lipoprotein in terms of management. NHS England will look to NICE for guidance on the role of lipoprotein testing to inform cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention policy. The National CVD Prevention Programme aims to improve the uptake of lipid lowering therapies for both primary and secondary prevention to treat people with established CVD to NICE treatment targets.

The Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% in the next 10 years. To accelerate progress on this ambition, we will publish a new Cardiovascular Disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) this Spring. The CVD MSF will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care across the CVD pathway while fostering innovation, and will help to improve the detection and management of cardiovascular risk factors.