§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what clinical audit data hospitals and primary care trusts in England have collated that is more than 12 months old covering the information in Milestone 3 on heart failure set out in the National Service Framework on Coronary Heart Disease. [149855]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThis data is not held centrally, as the delivery of the national service framework (NSF) is managed locally. The Department's assessment is that the national health service has made good progress on this issue, as seen in the decline in emergency admissions for heart failure. As the new general medical services contract takes effect and heart failure assumes a higher priority in the central phase of delivery of the NSF, we expect to see further rapid progress on this important group of patients. To support the publication of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's clinical guidelines that set out recommendations for NHS care of people with chronic heart failure, the Department has published a booklet, "Developing services for heart failure".