Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the amount that the NHS would have saved if the anti-coagulant drug Heparin were used instead of Bivalirudin during cardiac procedures in each year since 2010.

We have made no such estimate.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has appraised bivalirudin in combination with aspirin and clopidogrel and recommends the drug as a possible treatment for adults with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention in guidance issued in July 2011.

Patients have the right to drugs and treatments that have been recommended by NICE technology appraisal guidance for use in the National Health Service, where their doctor believes they are clinically appropriate.