Cholesterol: Screening

(asked on 6th February 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to genetic testing for familial hypercholesterolaemia.


This question was answered on 10th February 2017

NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) are working to raise the profile of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) and break down the barriers to genetic testing.

NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Heart Disease chairs a FH steering group which comprises representatives from relevant stakeholder organisations including representation from PHE’s Healthcare Public Health Team. This group, with funding from the British Heart Foundation, has established FH specialist nurses in many areas of England, aimed at increasing FH cascade testing so that more affected families can be identified. The steering group aims to develop a systems approach to the detection and management of FH. Software to support cascade testing and provide a database for FH is available and will be increasingly used in England as FH services are established.

NHS England has also identified FH as a possible condition that it could focus on as part of the work looking into personalised medicine and how the National Health Service might make better use of increased genetic testing.

Finally, a cholesterol test is included as part of an NHS Health Check. Guidance alerts practitioners conducting the check to consider the possibility of FH in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Guidance. Emerging evidence shows that, compared to routine primary care practice, the NHS Health Check programme is detecting more cases of FH.

Reticulating Splines