Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to promote early detection of treatable diseases amongst (a) the public and (b) healthcare workers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Each year, over 15 million people are invited for screening, with over 10 million taking up the invitation. In total, this saves approximately 10,000 lives every year and enables many others to make better informed decisions around their health.
The Government delivers 11 screening programmes to detect 33 treatable conditions. The antenatal screening programme also provides information for couples about their baby.
On 14 October 2025, NHS England announced that newborn screening for the rare, life-threatening metabolic disorder hereditary tyrosinaemia type 1 is now being offered to all babies in England.
In early 2026, screening providers will also be able to offer human papillomavirus self-sampling kits to under-screened individuals in the National Health Service cervical screening programme in England. Evidence suggests that self-sampling will increase the numbers engaging with the screening programme.
In addition to this, the Government continues to deliver the NHS Health Check, a core component of England’s cardiovascular disease prevention programme, which aims to detect those at risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease for people aged between 40 to 74 years old. In 2024/25, the NHS Health Check engaged over 1.4 million people and prevented an estimated 500 heart attacks and strokes. To improve access to the programme we are piloting an online NHS Health Check so that people can undertake a check at a time and place convenient to them.
Employers across the NHS have their own arrangements in place for supporting their staff, including occupational health provision, employee support programmes, and board level scrutiny through health and wellbeing guardians.
We will also roll out Staff Treatment hubs to ensure that staff have access to high quality support for mental health and back conditions.
At a national level, NHS England has made additional support available. This includes a focus on healthy working environments, tools and resources to support line managers to hold meaningful conversations with staff to discuss their wellbeing, and emotional and psychological health and wellbeing support.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to recognise obesity as a disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not recognise obesity as a disease.
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which the Government accepts and works to, focus on obesity as a complex but preventable public health issue. NICE does not classify obesity as a disease but recognises that it increases the risks of a range of adverse health outcomes including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers. NICE provides robust, evidence-based guidance on the identification, prevention and treatment of obesity. NICE guidelines stress the importance of clinical judgement, including considering whether someone is living with another health condition alongside obesity that may be relevant.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential use of wearable health device data and artificial intelligence to support early detection of heart damage in NHS patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises the potential of wearable health technologies and artificial intelligence to support the earlier detection and better management of conditions such as heart damage. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, wearables are one of the “big bets” for the future of the health service, with a vision for these technologies to become a routine part of care by 2035.
A key ambition is for health data, including from wearables, to flow securely and seamlessly through the National Health Service over time. As part of this, by 2028 we aim to make the remote monitoring of cardiovascular disease (CVD) using wearables a standard part of care. Work to integrate wearable data into the NHS App and the single patient record is also underway as part of our broader digital transformation. This supports our broader health mission to shift care from treatment to prevention, from analogue to digital, and from hospital to community settings.
To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework in 2026. The Department and NHS England are engaging widely throughout its development to ensure that we prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care.
We are evaluating which devices and use cases are most clinically and cost effective, with the early detection of heart damage a key area of interest. This work aligns with the commitment to modernise CVD services through the development of a new framework that will consider the role of innovation, such as wearables and remote monitoring.
As with all emerging technologies, adoption will be guided by evidence, regulation, and robust data governance. We continue to monitor developments and will update our approach as the evidence base evolves.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking through the Modern Service Framework for cardiovascular health to reduce premature deaths from cardiovascular disease.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The cardiovascular disease modern service framework will help accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade.
The Government is prioritising ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care. At the heart of this is engagement with people and communities, so that the modern service framework is shaped by and meets their needs. We will say more on these plans in due course.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of longer duration ambulatory ECG monitoring on stroke prevention.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England continues to monitor data on patient access to ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring to inform future improvements in commissioning and patient access.
The Government is committed to reducing premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% in the next 10 years. To accelerate progress, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework in 2026. The Department and NHS England are engaging widely throughout its development to ensure that we prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the upcoming cardiovascular disease modern service framework will ensure that patients with peripheral arterial disease have equitable access to appropriate assessment, treatment and follow-up services across the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework (CVD MSF) in 2026. The CVD MSF will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the cardiovascular disease pathway.
The Department and NHS England are engaging widely throughout the development of the CVD MSF to ensure that we consider a range of conditions that impact on cardiovascular disease premature mortality, including peripheral arterial disease, and that we prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support (a) the Echo Centre in Liskeard and (b) other community-based neuro-rehabilitation services.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB) is currently funding a community neuro-rehabilitation group meeting in the Echo centre in Liskeard. This has supported 48 people since January 2025, via a thirteen-week course, in a supportive group environment, to develop the skills, strength, and confidence to manage their condition independently and reduce their need for wider health and care services.
A community neurorehabilitation and stroke therapy team is funded by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB and provided by the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to provide assessments, treatment, and management for people with stroke and complex neurological conditions. This includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and supporting people with complex hospital discharges.
Further work is underway to understand the impact of the group course held at the Echo centre, the need for wider services, and how the people receiving, or waiting for, neurorehabilitation are using the health and care services. This will be used to inform the longer term commissioning of health and care services in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and ensure they best meet the needs of residents.
Additionally, in line with the 10-Year Health Plan, the National Health Service in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is investing in services to prevent, where possible, conditions which require neurorehabilitation, such as strokes, and to reduce and delay the symptoms of conditions such as acquired brain injuries.
In August, NHS England updated its service specification for adult specialised neurology services. It states that neurology patients should have timely access to the full range of inpatient and outpatient specialised neurorehabilitation services. Service specifications are important in clearly defining the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care.
In October, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also published new guidance on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, including acquired brain injury. The guideline covers rehabilitation in all settings for children, young people, and adults with a chronic neurological disorder, neurological impairment, or disabling neurological symptoms due to acquired brain injury.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve outcomes for patients with (a) strokes and (b) transient ischaemic attacks in Camborne and Redruth constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service operates an Integrated Community Stroke Service at Camborne Redruth Community Hospital. This service provides specialist therapy, advice, and support for people, their families, and carers following stroke and transient ischaemic attack or mini stroke.
To improve outcomes for patients with stroke and transient ischaemic attacks, the Government will publish a cardiovascular disease modern service framework. This will identify and set standards for the best evidenced interventions, drive innovation in stroke prevention and management, and reduce unwarranted variation in healthcare.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve outcomes for patients with atrial fibrillation in Camborne and Redruth constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service in Cornwall has a comprehensive cardiovascular training programme in place for primary care staff. This is a key initiative to increase awareness of prevention, cause and management of stroke, atrial fibrillation, acute coronary syndromes and heart failure.
The NHS locally report over nine in ten patients with atrial fibrillation in Camborne and Redruth are treated with anti-coagulants, with treatment rates having increased across Cornwall over the last three years with biggest increases in areas with highest deprivation.
The NHS in Cornwall is also working to prevent, identify and treat linked conditions such as diabetes, alcohol dependency and high blood pressure and to support lifestyle changes that can improve atrial fibrillation symptoms, coronary heart disease, strokes and transient ischemic attacks as well as other cardiovascular conditions such as peripheral arterial disease.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 17 September (HL10436), what steps they are taking to ensure that peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is explicitly included in the upcoming Cardiovascular Diseases Modern Service Framework; and whether they plan to set specific targets for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of PAD.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease (CVD) modern service framework in 2026. The CVD modern service framework will support consistent, high quality, and equitable care whilst fostering innovation across the CVD pathway.
The Department and NHS England are working together to deliver the CVD modern service framework and are engaging widely throughout its development to ensure that we prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care. A range of conditions that impact premature mortality will be considered in the development of the CVD modern service framework, including peripheral arterial disease.