Lord Black of Brentwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2014-06-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the publication of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guideline 180, what action they are taking to ensure appropriate risk stratification and uptake of anti-thrombotic therapy among patients with atrial fibrillation.

Earl Howe

NHS England is taking a number of actions to improve the care and management of people with atrial fibrillation (AF). It has published Our Ambition to Reduce Premature Mortality: A resource to support commissioners in setting a level of ambition, which identifies improved management of AF as a priority for reducing premature mortality. The resource can be found at:

www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/sop/red-prem-mort/

National Health Service Improving Quality’s Living Longer Lives programme includes promoting the use of a simple but effective audit tool called Guidance on Risk Assessment and Stroke Prevention for Atrial Fibrillation (GRASP-AF) which simplifies the process of identifying patients with AF who are not receiving the right treatment. NHS Improving Quality is currently collaborating with partner organisations, including charities, to support the nationwide roll-out of GRASP-AF.

This work will be supported by the publication of an economic analysis commissioned by NHS Improving Quality using GRASP data which demonstrates both the current and potential impact of atrial fibrillation management on the number of AF related strokes.

Discussions are also underway to consider whether opportunistic testing for atrial fibrillation (AF) should be encouraged nationally as part of the NHS Health Check programme.