Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential use of wearable health device data and artificial intelligence to support early detection of heart damage in NHS patients.

The Department recognises the potential of wearable health technologies and artificial intelligence to support the earlier detection and better management of conditions such as heart damage. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, wearables are one of the “big bets” for the future of the health service, with a vision for these technologies to become a routine part of care by 2035.

A key ambition is for health data, including from wearables, to flow securely and seamlessly through the National Health Service over time. As part of this, by 2028 we aim to make the remote monitoring of cardiovascular disease (CVD) using wearables a standard part of care. Work to integrate wearable data into the NHS App and the single patient record is also underway as part of our broader digital transformation. This supports our broader health mission to shift care from treatment to prevention, from analogue to digital, and from hospital to community settings.

To accelerate progress towards the Government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new cardiovascular disease modern service framework in 2026. The Department and NHS England are engaging widely throughout its development to ensure that we prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care.

We are evaluating which devices and use cases are most clinically and cost effective, with the early detection of heart damage a key area of interest. This work aligns with the commitment to modernise CVD services through the development of a new framework that will consider the role of innovation, such as wearables and remote monitoring.

As with all emerging technologies, adoption will be guided by evidence, regulation, and robust data governance. We continue to monitor developments and will update our approach as the evidence base evolves.