Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce emergency admissions for heart valve disease through earlier diagnosis and timely elective intervention.

In April 2025, NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme introduced a nationally standardised eight-week treatment pathway for patients with severe aortic stenosis, which is an advanced heart valve disease. This system-level reform targets persistent delays between diagnosis and intervention for aortic stenosis, to reduce emergency admissions.

To improve awareness of heart valve disease in primary care and to aid in diagnosis, NHS England commissioned the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society in 2024 to develop a referral form to support the investigation of heart valve disease.