§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he plans to take to ensure that the same level of medical and drug treatment is available throughout Northern Ireland to patients suffering from coronary heart disease. [6400]
§ Mr. MossGovernment policy remains that all patients should receive the level of medical care and the drugs appropriate to their coronary heart disease—CHD—condition.
Although my Department understands that most cardiologists currently use the same criteria to determine the most suitable treatment for their patients, greater consistency should be achieved by the publication next January of guidelines for angiography, angioplasty and coronary artery bypass grafting.
The Department is aware that there may be variations in the prescribing of drugs used in the treatment of CHD. The Department asked the four health and social services boards in August this year to use their medical prescribing advisers, whose responsibility includes monitoring the prescribing pattern of the GPs in their area, to investigate the matter.