Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made on the potential for improving diagnosis rates in heart failure through increasing the use of (a) BNP or (b) NTpro BNP testing for people who are suspected of having the condition as set out in NICE guidelines NG106.

NHS England is working with regions and cardiac networks to increase access to the BNP blood test and echocardiography, with early adopter sites testing clinical pathways to improve the early detection and optimum management of heart failure. This includes supporting earlier diagnosis of using screening and population health management, to identify patients at risk of heart failure and education on heart failure coding.

Through the 2022/23 Direct Enhanced Service specification, Primary Care Networks (PCNs) must improve diagnosis of patients with hypertension, according to guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. This includes supporting the earlier identification of heart failure, building awareness among PCN staff on the appropriate heart failure diagnostic pathway and improved early identification processes, such as the timely use of N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide testing.