Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what mechanisms are in place to collate and share cholesterol data across the NHS in order to improve cholesterol testing and management.

Jane Ellison

The Health Survey for England is an annual survey of the general population which has included measurements of total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol every year since 2008. The data is publically available from the UK Data Service.

Cholesterol testing in primary care is included in the Quality Outcomes Framework for people diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes and this is published every year by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

In addition, the National Cardiovascular Health Intelligence Network within Public Health England is working closely with organisations concerned with cardiovascular disease to take forward the recommendations in the recent Heart UK report ‘Helping Us to Beat Cholesterol’. This report focusses on the importance of data in the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease.