Cardiovascular health went into decline under the Conservatives, NHS review finds

Progress tackling cardiovascular diseases stalled under the Conservatives and is now in decline , a damning review into the NHS will find this week.

A “warts and all” probe into the health service ordered by health secretary Wes Streeting is to say cardiovascular health has been going in the wrong direction, with the British Heart Foundation describing the picture as “extremely concerning”.

Former health minister Ara Darzi , who has carried out the review, is expected to say: “Once adjusted for age, the cardiovascular disease mortality rate for people aged under 75 dropped significantly between 2001 and 2010.

“But improvements have stalled since then and the mortality rate started rising again during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

And, in its own submission to the investigation, the British Heart Foundation said: “We are extremely concerned that the significant progress made on heart disease and circulatory diseases (CVD) in the last 50 years is beginning to reverse. The number of people dying before the age of 75 in England from CVD has risen to the highest level in 14 years.”

Lord Darzi’s review is the latest example of Labour’s tying 14 years of Conservative government to crises in the justice system, health service, public finances and other key areas.

A spokesman for the Department for Health and Social Care, which will publish the review on Thursday, said: “It’s alarming that the progress made on heart disease and stroke is now in decline. It points to a failure to help people stay healthy, and a failure of the NHS to be there for us when we need it.

“This government is acting to cut waiting times and reform the NHS, so it catches illness earlier, which is better for patients and less expensive for our health service.”

The probe has uncovered wide variations in the standard of care being offered by the NHS to those with cardiovascular problems.

While heart attack patients in Surrey are likely to receive rapid interventions to unblock arteries in less than 90 minutes, less than 50 miles away in Luton, Bedford and Milton Keynes patients wait around four hours, the probe found.

It also found the average time for the highest-risk heart attack patients to receive the procedure has risen by 28 per cent since 2013, from 114 minutes to 146.

The report also pointed to a strong link between cardiovascular disease and health inequalities.

In 2022, people under the age of 75 living in the most deprived areas of England were 2.6 times more likely to die from heart disease than people living in the least deprived areas.

Mr Streeting on Sunday said the NHS is "broken but not beaten" and restated plans to utilise the private sector to improve outcomes.

He told Sky News: "I think what Lord Darzi, who is a very experienced clinician with decades of experience in the NHS and experience of serving both Labour and Conservative governments in different capacities, what he essentially says is the NHS is broken, but not beaten, and the investment matters, but so does reform.

"And if we don’t change the way that the NHS works as a system, then we will continue to see a heavy price for failure.

"The reason why we asked Lord Darzi to do this report was, if you don’t provide an accurate diagnosis for the patient, you’re not going to prescribe the right treatment."

Mr Streeting’s intervention came as Sir Keir Starmer accused the Conservatives of leaving the NHS in an “unforgivable” state.

In his first major TV interview since becoming prime minister, he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg : “Everybody watching this who has used the NHS, or whose relatives have, know that it’s broken, they know that it’s broken, that is unforgivable, the state of our NHS.”

Shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins has accused Labour of using Lord Darzi’s health review as "cover" to raise taxes in the upcoming Budget.

Speaking to Sky News, Ms Atkins said: "I was clear as secretary of state that to build an NHS for the next 75 years, we have to marry reform with investment, and I tried to do that through the productivity plans, bringing tech to the frontline of NHS services, which I hear that Labour is cancelling.

"What worries me is what we’ve seen so far from the health secretary, the only thing he’s done is to give junior doctors a pay rise with no productivity reform."

Put to her by presenter Trevor Phillips that the previous Conservative government broke the NHS, Ms Atkins said she welcomed discussion about future-proofing the NHS but insisted Labour were "choosing the headlines they pick" from Lord Darzi’s review and had ignored the health situation in Wales, which is "far, far worse".

She added: "This report, I fear, is cover for the Labour Party to raise our taxes in the budget in October, and they are laying the groundwork for this.

"They weren’t straight with us about winter fuel payments, they’re not being straight with us about taxes, and we need to have a grown-up conversation about the NHS, but this is not the way to go about it."