Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the health inequalities that have arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in cardiovascular diseases; and what steps they are taking to rectify this issue.

The Government has made no assessment of the health inequalities from the COVID-19 pandemic for cardiovascular diseases. However, NHS England is collating audits data and feedback from NHS services. The NHS has made clear that a central part of responding to COVID-19 and restoring services must be to increase the scale and pace of system-wide action to tackle inequalities, with a particular focus on the issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The most recent NHS England and NHS Improvement planning guidance outlined the health inequalities delivery strategy from a national and local perspective which prioritised eight key urgent actions to address inequalities in NHS provision and outcomes. Action four emphasises the need to accelerate preventative programmes which proactively engages those at greatest risk of poor health outcomes, which includes prioritising and addressing cardiovascular disease.