BHF comment
Labour pledges to significantly reduce deaths from heart attack and stroke
Delivering a speech in Braintree, Essex, Sir Keir outlined his mission to “build an NHS fit for the future” by tackling the UK’s biggest killers, bringing down waiting times for treatment and care, and creating a healthier environment for everyone.
He called for three “big shifts” in approach for the NHS, with a determined focus on “game-changing” medical science and technology, community care, and prevention.
One of the speech’s headline commitments was a pledge to implement a ban on junk food adverts before the 9pm watershed – a measure the BHF and its partner organisations have long been calling for to help address stubbornly high obesity rates in the UK.
People living with obesity are at greater risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases as well as risk factors such as Type 2 diabetes.
We have welcomed Labour’s commitment to saving more lives from cardiovascular diseases – conditions which kill one in four people in the UK.
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, our Chief Executive, said: "Cardiovascular disease is responsible for one death every three minutes in the UK, so we're heartened to see that Labour recognises the bold ambition needed to better prevent, diagnose, treat and focus research on one of the nation’s biggest killers.
“Medical research has helped us make great strides in saving lives from heart attacks and strokes over the last 60 years. But the pace of progress had slowed even before the pandemic, and heart and circulatory disease death rates have now increased.
"With the current extreme and unrelenting pressure on the NHS, we could see this concerning rise in cardiovascular disease death rates continue unless all parties commit to prioritising NHS heart care, better preventing heart disease and stroke, and powering science to unlock future treatments and cures."
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