– preventing thousands of heart attacks and strokes

Jonathan Shaw MP has welcomed the programme to identify vulnerability to vascular diseases that may prevent up to 9,500 heart attacks and strokes every year and save 2,000 lives.

Collectively, vascular diseases - heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease - affect the lives of more than four million people and kill 170,000 every year. They also account for more than half the mortality gap between rich and poor.

Initial results from modelling work carried out by the Department shows that a vascular check programme would prevent 4,000 people a year from developing diabetes. It could also detect at least 25,000 cases of diabetes or kidney disease earlier, allowing cases to be better managed and improving outcomes.

Jonathan Shaw MP said;

"As we look to the future of the NHS in its 60th anniversary year, the vision is to create a modern service that meets the unique challenges of today's society.

"The case for a national programme of vascular checks is compelling. This could prevent 9,500 heart attacks and strokes every year and save 2,000 lives. It would also reduce the health inequalities that blight the lives of the many in Medway and Kent.”

Jonathan Shaw MP added:

"The NHS is becoming more personal and responsive to individual needs; becoming as good at prevention and keeping people healthy as it is at providing care and cures; and able to offer the information and support people need to make healthy choices.

"This is an NHS that is properly equipped to face the challenges of the next 60 years."

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For further information, please contact: Gulsharan Sall, Assistant to Jonathan Shaw MP on 01634 811 573 or visit www.jonathanshaw.org.uk

Notes to editors

The checks would be based on straightforward questions and measurements such as age, sex, family history, height, weight and blood pressure. They would also include a simple blood test to measure cholesterol. Everyone would receive a personal assessment report, setting out not only the person's level of risk, but exactly what they could do to reduce it.

For those at low risk, this might be no more than general advice on how best to stay healthy. Others may be assisted to join a weight management programme or a stop smoking service. Those at the highest risk might also require preventative medication with statins or blood pressure treatment.

1. Copies of Putting Prevention First are available on the DH website: http://www.dh.gov.uk

2. In January, the Prime Minister announced our intention to bring forward new check-ups to help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease.

3. The vascular system is made up of all of the blood vessels in the body. The arteries and veins, powered by the heart, carry blood throughout the body, delivering oxygen and nutrients that power muscles and organs.

4. Vascular diseases are linked by having shared causes and complications, namely the build-up of fatty deposits (called atheroma or plaque) that block or weaken blood vessels.

5. These deposits cause serious vascular diseases around the body, including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and diabetes.

6. Vascular diseases are also linked because they share similar risk factors. For example, smoking, physical inactivity, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol can all lead to a build-up of fatty deposits in the blood vessels.

7. Vascular diseases often occur together and having one condition greatly increases chances of having one of the others. For example, adults with diabetes have heart disease rates of up to four times higher than adults without diabetes, and two of the main causes of kidney disease are high blood pressure and diabetes.