Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-02-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the UK National Screening Committee’s policy on screening people over 65 for atrial fibrillation.

Jane Ellison

In 2014 the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommended that screening people aged 65 and over for atrial fibrillation should not be offered. This is because the evidence did not show that those identified by screening would benefit from early diagnosis. Ministers have accepted the UK NSC’s recommendation.

As part of its three yearly recommendation review process, the UK NSC will review this recommendation in 2017/18.