Cardiovascular health has been going in the wrong direction, says NHS review

Progress tackling cardiovascular diseases stalled under the Conservatives and is now in decline, a damning review into the NHS will find this week.

A “warts and all” probe into the health service ordered by health secretary Wes Streeting is to say cardiovascular health has been going in the wrong direction, with the British Heart Foundation describing the picture as “extremely concerning”.

Former health minister Ara Darzi, who has carried out the review, is expected to say: “Once adjusted for age, the cardiovascular disease mortality rate for people aged under 75 dropped significantly between 2001 and 2010.

“But improvements have stalled since then and the mortality rate started rising again during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

And, in its own submission to the investigation, the British Heart Foundation said: “We are extremely concerned that the significant progress made on heart disease and circulatory diseases (CVD) in the last 50 years is beginning to reverse. The number of people dying before the age of 75 in England from CVD has risen to the highest level in 14 years.”

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Source: The Independent, 8 September 2024