§ Mr. BellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what assessment his Department has made of the annual cost to both the National Health Service and the social services of the treatment of coronary heart disease, taking into account the costs of working days lost through illness, disability payments, unemployment benefits and similar other social costs; and if he will specify such costs.
§ Mrs. CurrieComprehensive statistics on a precisely consistent basis are not available, but estimates can be made for some cost components. The annual cost to the National Health Service in England is estimated at approximately £560 million per annum. This includes expenditure on hospital in-patients and out-patients treated for coronary heart disease, an attribution of the costs of the general medical services, and the net ingredient cost of pharmaceutical preparations for treating heart disease.
The number of days of certified incapacity for sickness and invalidity benefit is readily available only on a Great Britain basis. The number of days attributable to coronary heart disease in the period 7 April 1986 to 4 April 1987 was 40.5 million. This statistic excludes periods of incapacity covered by statutory sick pay and working days lost by certain groups of workers who do not claim these benefits. It includes days of incapacity for which invalidity benefit was claimed by men aged 65 to 69 and women aged 60 to 64. It is not possible to attribute costs to these days.