Angina (Hansard, 8 September 2003)

§ Mr. Burns
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the total cost to the NHS of treating patients with chest-pain caused by angina in each of the last five years. [127442]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
No information is held centrally concerning the total cost to the national health service of treating patients with chest-pain caused by angina.

§ Mr. Burns
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of the English population suffers from angina. [127443]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
Nationally representative figures on the prevalence of heart disease and its risk factors are available from the Health Survey for England. The most recent estimates of the prevalence of angina were published inThe Health Survey for England—Cardiovascular Disease 1998 table 2.1, a copy of which is available in the Library.

§ Mr. Burns
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department is taking to reduce the need for hospital treatment for patients suffering from angina. [127445]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
Patients are usually treated with medical therapy or in more serious cases, surgical revascularisation to relieve symptoms of angina. The national service framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease (CHD) recommends patients receive the following medical therapysublingual nitrates for immediate treatment control beta-blockers, nitrates or calcium antagonists aspirin statins to reduce cholesterol levels.
Spending on statins has risen from £170 million in 1998 to £552 million in 2002.
The Priorities and Planning Framework requires that primary care, update practice-based registers so that patients with CHD continue to receive appropriate advice and treatment in line with NSF standards and 163W by March 2006, ensure practice based registers and systematic treatment regimes, including appropriate advice on diet, physical activity and smoking.
At the same time the Government have been engaged in a wide ranging programme to prevent heart disease, including action on smoking, free fruit in schools and physical activity.