Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to provide increased funding for research into congenital heart defects in babies.

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including congenital heart defects in babies. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

The NIHR continues to fund and support a range of research into congenital heart defects in babies, including the following projects:

- MRI-augmented guidance for X-ray fluoroscopic paediatric cardiovascular interventions (£415,000);

- Mixed Reality Imaging of Congenital Heart Disease to Improve Surgical Decision-Making (£453,000); and

- Infant deaths in the United Kingdom community following successful cardiac surgery - building the evidence base for optimal surveillance (£22.800).

Information on individual projects funded by the NIHR can be found at the following link:

https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/