The Government must build on progress to tackle the key risk factors for CVD, including reducing smoking rates, stabilising obesity rates and reducing the sugar and salt content of food and drink products.
In 2019, the NHS Long Term Plan set out an ambition to prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases by 2028/29. Whilst it can be challenging to assess performance against this ambition, I note that as of June 2024, the NHS was exceeding its ambitions for 2025/26 for atrial fibrillation and treating people with a greater than 20 per cent risk of CVD with lipid-lowering therapies (for high cholesterol).
NHS Health Checks are a valuable way of assessing the risk of CVD for everyone aged between 40 and 74 who do not have pre-existing heart conditions. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning and inviting the eligible population for a Health Check but it is concerning that just over half of people who were eligible in 2023/24 attended a Health Check.
I fully agree that more must be done to tackle the root causes of cardiovascular disease and tackle waiting lists for diagnosis and treatment, and I will be holding the Government to account on these issues and for its commitment to reduce cardiovascular disease during this Parliament.
