Thrombosis

John Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects venous thromboembolism to be included in the NHS Operating Framework.

Ann Keen
We expect venous thromboembolism (VTE) will be included in the 2010-11 national health service Operating Framework, which will be published later in the year.

John Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to develop a venous thromboembolism prevention strategy;

(2) what assessment he made of the merits of including venous thromboembolism risk assessment in the full NHS list of indicators for quality improvement.

Ann Keen
The Department has a very comprehensive venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention strategy in place at present. Under the leadership of the Chief Medical Officer, many strands of work are being taken forward across a number of organisations.

Indicators for Quality Improvement was launched in May 2009 as a resource to support understanding and improving the quality of national health service services. The initial list is based largely on existing indicators and will evolve over time to cover a fuller range of NHS services as further indicators are identified and developed.