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Blood: Cholesterol

Volume 458: debated on Tuesday 13 March 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made on the 11 spearhead areas in London towards (a) better detection and (b) more treatment of (i) high blood pressure and (ii) high blood cholesterol levels. (124780)

The new general medical services (GMS) contract specification encourages primary care practices to identify and treat patients with high blood pressure and to test and control cholesterol levels in patients with coronary heart disease, diabetes or stroke. The tables show the number of available points achieved against these indicators demonstrating that general practitioner practices are making good progress of improving these detection and treatment rates.

The applicable quality and outcomes framework (QOF) data has been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what account was taken of NHS guidelines on blood cholesterol levels in Scotland when setting those for England. (124781)

The Department’s policy on cholesterol levels is set out in the national service framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease (CHD). The NSF for CHD set cholesterol levels taking into account the Joint British Societies’ recommendations reported in 1998, as well as the Scottish report “Secondary prevention clinics for coronary heart disease: randomised trial of effect on health” written by Campbell, Thain, Deans et al. which detailed emerging evidence in 1998.