Vascular Checks Will Prevent Thousands Of Heart Attacks And Strokes

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Also Included In: Stroke / Neuroprotection
Article Date: 01 Apr 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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Everyone aged between 40 - 74 offered checks

A national programme to identify vulnerability to vascular diseases will prevent up to 9,500 heart attacks and strokes every year and save 2,000 lives, Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced.

Collectively, vascular diseases - heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease - affect the lives of more than four million people and kill 170,000 every year. They also account for more than half the mortality gap between rich and poor.

Initial results from modelling work carried out by the Department shows that a vascular check programme would prevent 4,000 people a year from developing diabetes. It could also detect at least 25,000 cases of diabetes or kidney disease earlier, allowing cases to be better managed and improving outcomes.

Alan Johnson said:

"As we look to the future of the NHS in its 60th anniversary year, our vision is to create a modern service that meets the unique challenges of today's society.

"The case for a national programme of vascular checks is compelling. We could prevent 9,500 heart attacks and strokes every year and save 2,000 lives. It would also reduce the health inequalities that blight the lives of the country's most deprived families.

"The NHS is becoming more personal and responsive to individual needs; becoming as good at prevention and keeping people healthy as it is at providing care and cures; and able to offer the information and support people need to make healthy choices.

"This is an NHS that is properly equipped to face the challenges of the next 60 years."

We are today setting out our evidence for a national vascular check programme in Putting Prevention First. Everyone between the ages of 40 and 74 will be entitled to the checks.

The checks would be based on straightforward questions and measurements such as age, sex, family history, height, weight and blood pressure. They would also include a simple blood test to measure cholesterol.

Everyone would receive a personal assessment report, setting out not only the person's level of risk, but exactly what they could do to reduce it. For those at low risk, this might be no more than general advice on how best to stay healthy. Others may be assisted to join a weight management programme or a stop smoking service. Those at the highest risk might also require preventative medication with statins or blood pressure treatment.

Associate Chief Medical Officer Bill Kirkup said:

"We aim to make vascular checks to be available in a variety of convenient places. These could include GP surgeries, pharmacies or other community settings. This programme can make a major contribution to preventing early death and disability, and it is vital that it reaches as many people as possible.

"We are also determined to tackle the inequalities in health, and vascular diseases are the main cause. All too often, people with the worst health have the poorest access to GPs. We want a system that will encourage them to take part, and help to reduce the health gap between rich and poor."

We intend to begin implementation in 2009/10. We will now work with our key partners across the NHS, the medical profession and the voluntary sectors in drawing up a national system that works for them and patients.

Our initial modelling suggests that the annual costs will be in the region of £250 million per year. This includes the cost of the checks themselves as well as the NHS care likely to result from the checks once the proposals are fully implemented across the NHS. However, these figures depend on the details of implementation and levels of demand. We will refine these costings as we continue to design an implementation system with our partners.

We have put aside resources from the health budget and we are committed to providing this funding to the NHS to support this critical shift towards prevention.

Anne Mackie, Director of the UK National Screening Committee, said:

"The UK National Screening Committee welcomes the priority that the government has placed on implementing its recommendations in England. We will now work with stakeholders and the public to develop robust implementation plans. We will particularly focus on how we can make this accessible to the whole population and reduce inequalities in vascular health."

The Department also announced today the extension of a scheme to help patients on low incomes with the costs of travelling to health care appointments. Currently, patients on low incomes and in receipt of certain means-tested benefits are eligible for help in meeting the costs of travelling to receive hospital-based treatment. This follows referral by a consultant as part of the Hospital Travel Costs Scheme.

As health care services are increasingly delivered outside of hospitals, financial help toward travel costs will, from today, be available to all patients who meet the criteria and are referred by doctors and dentists for traditionally hospital-based treatments wherever these are carried out. To reflect this change, the scheme is being renamed as the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme.

The expanded travel costs scheme means that patients will be able to choose where they access the healthcare that best suits their needs without having to worry about the travel costs involved.

Notes

1. Copies of Putting Prevention First are available on the DH website: http://www.dh.gov.uk

2. In January, the Prime Minister announced our intention to bring forward new check-ups to help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease.

3. The vascular system is made up of all of the blood vessels in the body. The arteries and veins, powered by the heart, carry blood throughout the body, delivering oxygen and nutrients that power muscles and organs.

4. Vascular diseases are linked by having shared causes and complications, namely the build-up of fatty deposits (called atheroma or plaque) that block or weaken blood vessels.

5. These deposits cause serious vascular diseases around the body, including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and diabetes. 6. Vascular diseases are also linked because they share similar risk factors. For example, smoking, physical inactivity, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol can all lead to a build-up of fatty deposits in the blood vessels.

7. Vascular diseases often occur together and having one condition greatly increases chances of having one of the others. For example, adults with diabetes have heart disease rates of up to four times higher than adults without diabetes, and two of the main causes of kidney disease are high blood pressure and diabetes.

http://www.dh.gov.uk