Heart Diseases

(asked on 13th November 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 17 April 2023 to Question 177873 on Heart Diseases, what steps the NHS is taking to increase access to testing to support the diagnosis of heart failure in primary care.


Answered by
Andrew Stephenson Portrait
Andrew Stephenson
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 20th November 2023

The NHS Long Term Plan has committed to a number of key ambitions to improve care and outcomes for individuals with cardiovascular disease, including enhanced diagnostic support in the community, better personalised planning and increasing access to cardiac rehabilitation. These ambitions will support the delivery of the aim to help prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes, and dementia cases by 2029.

Cutting National Health Service waiting lists, including for cardiology services, is one of this Government’s top priorities. £2.3 billion was awarded to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for cardiology services. This funding will also increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering cardiology services.

In addition, the NHS will increase capacity, by seeking alternative capacity in other trusts or the independent sector and increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs.

NHS England is supporting a new fast-track echocardiography training scheme. In collaboration with the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE), this training scheme has been developed to respond rapidly to the urgent workforce needs for accredited echocardiographers.

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