State of the Nation report launch

A report into cardiovascular disease (CVD), by HEART UK, is calling upon both the Government and NHS to prioritise CVD within the forthcoming long-term plan for the health service. The report which was launched during a one-off cholesterol testing event in the House of Commons examines the state of CVD care at both local and national levels.

CVD is responsible for 26% of all deaths in the UK. This equates to approximately 160,000 deaths each year or an average of 435 people each day. At least 42,000 of these deaths occur prematurely, meaning a significant amount of lives are cut short far too soon. Over the past twenty years, the Government in England has identified CVD as an urgent public health problem and has taken action to address its prevalence and poor patient outcomes. These efforts have resulted in a decline in CVD deaths. However, recent figures suggest progress in tackling England’s dangerous relationship with CVD is stalling.

The report covers policy directives, strategies at a national level, the impact and opportunities that come with NHS organisational restructuring, and the ever-growing role of care and health at the community level in delivering long-term health improvement outcomes. Key recommendations of the report include:

•  The NHS England long-term plan must ensure that CVD prevention and cholesterol management is rightly prioritised and that any proposed methods to improve outcomes in these areas have a clear implementation strategy
• A Government commitment that there will be no further cuts to public health funding

The recommendations within HEART UK’s report have been stress-tested with a variety of high profile decisionmakers within the health system, and set forth improvements which must be made in order to ensure that CVD is effectively identified, treated and managed in a timely manner.

Commenting on the launch of the report, HEART UK’s Chief Executive, Ms Jules Payne, said:

“The long term funding plan for the health system in England provides an excellent opportunity for the Government and NHS England to urgently prioritise cardiovascular disease (CVD) within decision-making circles and propose solutions in order to improve the country’s CVD outcomes. The recommendations within HEART UK’s ‘State of the Nation’ report are important calls to action for a wide-variety of stakeholders, from those working at the highest levels of Government making decisions on NHS strategy to those managing public health within local authorities.”