Thank you to those who have contacted me about heart disease and heart failure.
Heart and circulatory disease, also known as cardiovascular disease (CVD), causes a quarter of all deaths in the UK and is the largest cause of premature mortality in deprived areas. This is the single biggest area where the NHS can save lives over the next 10 years.
I welcome goals set out in the NHS Long Term Plan which seek to target this, including preventing up to 150,000 heart attacks, strokes, and dementia cases over the next 10 years, working with partners to improve community first response and build defibrillator networks to improve survival from out of hospital cardiac arrest, and working to ensure up to 85 per cent of those eligible are accessing cardiac rehabilitation care by 2028, among the best in Europe. NHS England and NHS Improvement are investing £4.5 million in 2012/22 to support whole pathway improvements in cardiac networks and to reduce variation in care across the service. Further, the NHS is supporting patients to better understand their condition, so that they can be supported to self-manage at home.
I know that, in 2010, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidelines that recommended that patients with suspected heart failure should be seen by a specialist, inside a fortnight in urgent cases. I agree that these targets are important, as part of the wider work to reduce deaths from cardiovascular conditions.
As we emerge from the pandemic, the NHS continues to face unprecedented pressure. I will of course continue to work with my colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure patients receive treatment as quickly as possible.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.