§ 8. Ms Sally Keeble (Northampton, North)What progress is being made in improving services which will cut the incidence of coronary heart disease. [151956]
§ The Minister for Public Health (Yvette Cooper)Two of the biggest causes of heart disease are smoking and lack of access to fruit and vegetables. That is why the action to cut the incidence of heart disease includes comprehensive support for smokers who want to give up, and rolling out free fruit in infants schools.
§ Ms KeebleI thank my hon. Friend for that response. Is she aware that this Friday, a new chest pain clinic is opening at Northampton general hospital, and does she agree that such measures will not only help to cure heart disease but will help people to monitor their own condition and get it under control?
§ Yvette CooperI agree with my hon. Friend, and I certainly welcome the arrival of the new rapid-access chest pain clinic in Northampton. In the national service framework we have set out plans for rapid-access chest pain clinics throughout the country. Those are being opened as we speak, and are starting to provide services throughout the country, because it is important that when people are suspected of suffering from heart disease they can be seen very swiftly and properly diagnosed.
§ Dr. Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park)Is the Minister not concerned about the lack of fitness among our young people, and does she not consider that that is due to a lack of sporting facilities and sports education in our schools? We may accept that that is largely due to the selling of school playing fields and the requirements of the national curriculum, but what talks is the Minister having with her counterparts in the Department for Education and Employment to ensure that sport is made compulsory in our schools?
§ Yvette CooperWe have had considerable discussions with the DFEE and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about promoting sport in schools. The hon. Lady will be aware that considerable work has been done to promote sport in schools, and to create school sports co-ordinators to increase access to exercise among young people. However, this issue is not just about sports; it is about exercise and access to exercise across the board. 815 The creation of safe routes to school for many of our young people is another important way of increasing their access to exercise.
§ Mr. Dennis Turner (Wolverhampton, South-East)I am not sure whether Ministers, particularly my right hon. Friend himself, are aware of the deep affection in which the Secretary of State is held by my constituents, following his recent announcement of a state-of-the-art £44 million coronary care unit for Wolverhampton and the black country. My right hon. Friend is aware, as all our Ministers are, that we have the highest incidence of heart disease in the whole west midlands region, but the lowest access to such important life-saving facilities. Thank you very much, Ministers.
§ Yvette CooperI join my hon. Friend in welcoming the new state-of-the-art cardiac surgery centre in Wolverhampton, and pay tribute to his very persistent lobbying on behalf of his constituents for the cardiac centre these past many months. He is right that it is important to increase access to heart operations and to increase the number of heart operations taking place in this country. He is also right that it is important to target those services exactly where we need them, in order to tackle the health inequalities as well, because the blunt fact is that a person on a low income is three times more likely to suffer from heart disease than a person on a high income. That health inequality is morally wrong.