Cardiovascular System: Screening

Sandra Gidley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what progress has been made by the Department of Health Vascular Programme Board in reviewing recommendations from the National Screening Committee on vascular risk assessment; and when the results of the review will be published;

(2) whether modelling of the economic consequences of different approaches to risk factor assessment and management has been undertaken and the options and the implications for NHS implementation considered as recommended by Sir Muir Gray and the National Screening Committee;

(3) what progress has been made in the Department's consideration of a more integrated approach to vascular risk assessment and management since the publication of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s draft guidance on lipid modification.

Ann Keen
As announced by the Prime Minister in his speech about the national health service on 7 January, the Department will in the next few months bring forward proposals for a screening programme in the NHS to assess people for risk of vascular disease, including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes. This is a complex area, which requires a critical and systematic review of the evidence for a vascular risk assessment. The impetus for this work came in part from the National Screening Committee’s (NSC) recommendations, as well as from the chief medical officer’s department in the Department of Health. When the current phase of analysis and modelling yields its results, we intend to use it as part of our consultation with stakeholders on the development of these proposals. The work of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on lipid modification is of considerable relevance to our plans for a wider programme of vascular risk assessment and we expect the two to be wholly complementary.