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 with the NHS to collect data to (a) assess the affect the covid-19 outbreak has had on heart failure services, and (b) to inform patient care.
The National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (NICOR) has worked with the cardiovascular professional societies and individual hospitals to ensure a continuous flow of data to assess the effect of the pandemic on patients with cardiovascular disease. NICOR’s report outlines the findings of recent analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on routine cardiovascular care including services for heart failure patents.
A close collaboration between NHS Digital, NICOR and the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership with NHS England has also transformed the information governance landscape by creating a linked ‘cardiovascular data spine’. This has enabled data to be collated and analysed rapidly to inform on National Health Service patient care improvements.