MPs discuss pandemic's seismic impact on heart patients

“Those suffering from cardiovascular diseases deserve better” – this was the stark message delivered to MPs yesterday in response to the pandemic’s significant impact on people with heart and circulatory diseases.

The debate, led by Jim Shannon, MP for Strangford, Northern Ireland, detailed the seismic disruption to heart care in England and Northern Ireland over the last two years, despite the “heroic efforts” of doctors, nurses and other key workers in the NHS.

During the debate, MPs from across the political spectrum raised concerns about the immense pressure on the health and care workforce and urgent and emergency care, and the effects this could have for the 7.6 million people in the UK with heart and circulatory diseases. 

Andrew Gwynne MP, the Shadow Minister for Public Health, stated that: “It is maddening that in these circumstances the Government have not set out a robust strategy for cardiac care and how they plan to address these really important issues.”  

MPs supported our calls for a robust cardiovascular care strategy for England that addresses the root problem of staff shortages and gives the health service enough resource to deliver heart care for patients. A similar strategy for Northern Ireland was also called for.    

Minister for Public Health and Vaccines,  Maggie Throup MP, did not commit to a CVD strategy, but agreed to write to Jim Shannon MP on the call for 100 more cardiac consultants.

Ticking time bomb of heart disease

The pandemic’s disruption to heart care is far from over – it is still being felt acutely today.

Waiting lists for time-critical heart care – which were already rising before the pandemic - have rocketed in the last two years, and are now at a record 319,000 people in England. Nearly a third of those are waiting over four months for their vital heart surgery, procedures and tests.

The pandemic has also affected access to heart care in the community . As an example, the proportion of patients with diagnosed hypertension (high blood pressure) who had their blood pressure checked in the first year of the pandemic fell to 64 per cent in England, compared to 89 per cent before the pandemic began.

At the same time, it remains unclear how many missed diagnoses of high-risk heart and circulatory conditions there have been during the pandemic. 

This is an unknown “ticking time bomb” that must be defused in order to meet Long Term Plan ambitions of preventing 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases over the next decade, Mr Shannon said today.

Mr Shannon said: “We need a UK Government strategy specific to cardiovascular disease that addresses the cardiac workforce crisis, the disparity across the United Kingdom and provides sufficient resources for the delivery of cardiac services.”

READ ABOUT THE UNTOLD HEARTBREAK