UK's NHS claims CVD reduction target met

The UK's public health care provider has claimed "outstanding progress" in the management of cardiovascular disease, based on two simultaneously-published reports. The Department of Health credits a range of measures, including the prescribing of statins, for meeting National Health Service targets in treating CVD five years ahead of schedule.

The National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease, which was formulated in March 2000, had set a 10-year deadline for reducing the mortality rate in people under 75 years by 40%. According to the newly-published CHD National Service Framework Progress Report, prescribing of statins has "more than doubled over the last three years, cutting both mortality from CHD and the yearly number of heart attacks."

The progress report notes that other factors were also responsible for the health outcomes improvements. For example, thrombolysis was provided in almost 70% of cases within an hour of an emergency call in late 2006, compared with just 24% in early 2001. The report also states that, "no patients are waiting over three months for heart surgery compared with over 5,000 in 2000."