NHS heart care in crisis as under-75 deaths rise, government review finds
Heart care in the NHS is deteriorating, with deaths among people under 75 at their highest in more than a decade, a major government report has revealed.
The report by cancer surgeon and former health minister Lord Darzi warns that the state of NHS care is undoing the progress made in the 1970s on heart disease and waiting times.
It is expected to show that long waits for ambulances and emergency surgery after heart attacks are again leading to a rise in deaths.
Patients with heart disease in parts of the UK are also facing a ‘postcode lottery’.
The report was commissioned by the new Labour government and focuses on what Sir Keir Starmer calls the “broken NHS”.
The research by cancer surgeon and former health minister Lord Darzi (pictured) warns that the state of NHS care is undoing the progress made in the 1970s on heart disease and waiting times
Patients with heart and vascular disease in parts of the UK are also facing a ‘postcode lottery’ (file image)
The findings, due to be published on Thursday, are likely to shape the government’s 10-year plan to “radically reform the NHS”.
Lord Darzi warns that children’s health is in a deadly crisis, with life-threatening illnesses, obesity and infectious diseases on the rise.
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘It is encouraging to hear that the research recognises the huge challenges facing cardiovascular care and the 6.4 million people in England living with heart and circulatory disease.’
The number of people dying before the age of 75 in England has risen to a 14-year high, the charity said, rising from a low of 71 per 100,000 people in 2019 to 79 per 100,000.