Heart and circulatory disease, also known as cardiovascular disease (CVD), causes a quarter of all deaths in the UK and is the largest cause of early death in deprived areas. This is the single biggest area where the NHS can save lives over the next 10 years.
CVD is largely preventable, through lifestyle changes and a combination of public health and NHS action on smoking and tobacco addiction, obesity, tackling alcohol misuse and improving the nutritional profile of food to make it healthier.
By tackling these issues, the NHS will help prevent up to 150,000 heart attacks, strokes and dementia cases over the next 10 years
Preventing, finding, and treating CVD early can help people live longer, healthier lives.
Too many people are still living with high-risk conditions they don’t know about such as high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, and atrial fibrillation (AF). Other countries have made more progress on identifying and treating people with these conditions.
Advances in digital technology will help the NHS to mirror the successes we have seen in other countries, and additional gains could be realised through better collaboration with employers in the public, private, and voluntary sectors.
