Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to improve awareness, diagnosis and treatment of heart valve disease.

Jane Ellison

The initial diagnosis, and follow-up, of those with heart valve disease is commissioned by clinical commissioning groups. NHS England is working with professionals across the system to look at ways in which services and outcomes for patients can be improved further, for example, by encouraging all practitioners to follow clinical guidelines.

Service specifications for the surgical and interventional treatment of heart valve disease are published by the NHS England Cardiac Clinical Reference Group, which is co-chaired by the National Clinical Director for Cardiac Services, Professor Huon Gray. These are important in clearly defining what NHS England expects to be in place for providers to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. NHS England is working on the next iteration of these specifications, which will include important standards relating to mitral valve surgery.

In addition, novel interventions on the mitral valve (Mitraclip) are being evaluated through the Commissioning through Evaluation initiative.