Cardiovascular prevention

The recently published NHS Long Term Plan includes a major ambition to prevent 150,000 strokes, heart attacks and dementia cases over the next 10 years.

Working with Public Health England, NHS England has agreed a set of national ambitions which seek to improve the detection and treatment of the high-risk conditions (A, B, C).

  • Atrial Fibrillation (A): achieve a detection rate of 85% and of those patients, 90% to be anti-coagulated by 2029
  • Blood Pressure (B): achieve a detection rate of 80% and of those patients, 80% to be treated to target as per NICE guidelines by 2029.
  • Cardiovascular Disease (C): 75% of people aged 40-74 to have received a formal validated CVD risk assessment and cholesterol reading recorded. Of those detected as having a 20% or greater risk of developing CVD in primary care, 45% to be treated with statins. 25% of people with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) are to be diagnosed and treated optimally.

The GP Champions network is focussed on high blood pressure and cholesterol. See our Diabetes page for more information.

Improving the detection and management of atrial fibrillation in primary care

To help increase the detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) and improve the use of appropriate treatment the Network has developed materials to support the detection of AF and the prevention of stroke in primary care. These include a short video message from Dr Martin James, Stroke Physician in Exeter and Dr Rick Mejzner, General Practitioner in Budleigh Salterton, about simple and easy ways to improve detection and management of AF in primary care. Also available here are two single-sided concise guides: Decision-making guide in AF , and ‘Top Ten Tips’ for preventing stroke in AF.  More detailed Network Guidance on the use of new oral anti-coagulants is also available.