§ 36. Mr. HepburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his plans to reduce the number of deaths from coronary heart disease in England. [98961]
§ Yvette CooperThe White Paper, "Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation" (published in July), sets out our strategy to tackle poor health and set a target to reduce the death rate from heart disease, stroke and related illnesses by at least 40 per cent. by 2010 from the 1996 baseline.
Last month we announced £50 million to increase cardiac surgery rates by about 10 per cent. over the two year period 2000–02, an additional 3,000 procedures over that period. This will improve access to coronary artery by-pass graft surgery. We will soon publish the National Service Framework on Coronary Heart Disease which will set out our plans for the development of services for the prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease over the next 10 years. The National Service Framework will be the keystone in our strategy to reduce both mortality and morbidity from heart disease.