Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for patent foraman ovale closure, for the prevention of recurrent cerebral embolic stroke in adults, to be available on the NHS.

On 17 July 2019, NHS England published its clinical commissioning policy for percutaneous patent foraman ovale closure for the prevention of recurrent cerebral embolic stroke in adults.

The policy describes the pathway which must be followed and the criteria which must be met for a patient to be eligible for this procedure. NHS England will be working with identified hospitals to ensure referral pathways are developed and implemented to support equitable access to services.

It can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/publication/percutaneous-patent-foraman-ovale-closure-for-the-prevention-of-recurrent-cerebral-embolic-stroke-in-adults-around-the-age-60-years-and-under