Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to accommodate a potential increase in cases of heart failure arising from delayed presentation and treatment for heart attack symptoms during the covid-19 outbreak; and what advice he has sought from heart failure specialists to inform his policy on that matter.

With a rise in COVID-19 activity, we have been clear that non-COVID-19 services will be maintained as far as possible and clinically urgent patients should continue to be treated first. In October 2020 NHS England and NHS Improvement provided service protection plans to regional teams to ensure that critical services, such as cardiac surgery for severe valvular disease patients, are maintained as far as possible.

NHS England and NHS Improvement promoted service restoration as a priority, including heart failure diagnostic and treatment services, as soon as the peak of the first wave of the pandemic began to decline.

In partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has also developed heart disease guidelines and evidence summaries with support from clinical specialists, the specialist societies and Royal Colleges, to help the National Health Service and social care respond quickly to the ongoing challenges of the pandemic.