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12.44 pm
David Wright (Telford) (Lab): I had not intended to make a contribution today, but I was so moved by some of the speeches that I have heard that I felt that I should make some remarks. My hon. Friend the Member for Stockton, South (Ms Taylor) did a fantastic job in introducing the Bill. Since my election to this place, whenever I meet my hon. Friend in the corridors of power she always has a smile on her face and something positive to say. She is one of the best and friendliest Members, and I congratulate her on her Bill and, indeed, on her whole approach to life.
People like me, who survive on a diet of Benson and Hedges, fish and chips and lager, know that we are probably heading for trouble with our health, but that is our choice. The big problem for people affected by sudden death is that they have no opportunity to make such lifestyle choices; they are struck down at a young age by terrible circumstances, which have enormously traumatic effects on their families and friends. That is what the Bill is all about. It will offer screening to the families of people struck down in those circumstances, so that the rest of the extended family has the opportunity to avoid the desperate and terrible effects of further loss.
The Bill is about changing the law, or exerting sufficient pressure on the Department of Health, to prevent unnecessary and untimely deaths. As my hon. Friend said, some of the case studies are truly shocking: five deaths in one extended family; repeated misdiagnosis as epilepsy or asthma; and people found dead in their bed after doctors had dismissed their condition as no more than "a nuisance".
If successful, the Bill would enhance the screening process and establish an automatic right to screening for all relatives of the victims of sudden cardiac death and all those diagnosed with symptoms of the syndrome. By raising the profile of sudden cardiac death, the Bill would at least encourage doctors, patients and screening technicians to take the issue seriously in future.
In her exhaustive speech, my hon. Friend outlined the scale of the problem. A minimum of four, and probably more than eight, apparently fit young people die every week, and those deaths are preventable. At present, the Department of Health adopts the UK National Screening Committee recommendation, advising that
- "relatives of people who have died of sudden cardiac death, or who are diagnosed with one of the underlying conditions, should be screened because there is a genetic component in many of these cases".
The Bill will significantly improve the process and availability of screening. It aims to ensure that pathologists recommend screening for the first-degree relatives of young cardiac deaths, or suspected young cardiac deaths. Those relatives will be able to claim screening as a right.
The Bill is all about choice. I mentioned the problems with my own diet, but that is the choice I make. The Bill gives the families and extended families of the victims of sudden cardiac death a choice. We have heard today that some people do not want to know that there could be a problem in their family, or that they could suffer sudden cardiac death. That is their choice, but they need to be given the opportunity of proper screening.
Those who have exhibited signs or symptoms, including fainting, palpitations or repeated black-outs, can claim screening as a right—as can their families. The Bill will ensure that, when heart screening is carried out, it includes the factors associated with sudden cardiac death in the young.
As has been made clear throughout the debate, there will not be a national screening programme. I understand that such a programme was rejected following the 1999 Logan report, which was commissioned for the UK National Screening Committee. So that is not what is being proposed today. We are talking about targeting action on those who need it the very most and offering a choice to those people to take that screening opportunity if they desire to do so.
I want to touch briefly on what the Government have achieved in relation to coronary heart disease. We have talked a lot about gaps in service provision today, and anyone listening to the debate or reading Hansard would think that the Government have not been doing much in relation to health services. In truth, the Government have done an enormous amount, and I am incredibly proud, as a member of the Labour party, of the significant investment that the Government have put into health care services. Certainly, the record on coronary heart disease is extremely good.
The Government's priorities have been to improve access to services across the patient pathway and to increase rapid choice for patients by achieving the two-week standard wait for rapid access chest pain clinics, setting local targets to make progress towards the national service framework goal of a three-month maximum wait for angiography and delivering the maximum wait of three months for revascularisation by March 2005, or sooner if possible.
We need to reflect on some of the figures. The number of heart operations carried out each year has risen from 40,983 in 2000 to about 56,000 in 2003. The NHS target
plan to carry out 6,000 extra heart operations by 2003 was met a year early—significant progress in respect of coronary heart disease. No patient waits more than nine months for heart surgery, compared with 2,700 patients doing so in March 2000. Since July 2002, patients waiting more than six months for their heart operation have been offered treatment at other NHS or private hospitals. Latest information—that for 2002–03—on coronary heart disease mortality rates shows a 23.4 per cent. reduction against the 1995–97 baseline. So we are making significant progress in dealing with coronary heart disease.Of course the difficulty is that the action tends to be targeted on those who are older and those who have a problematic lifestyle—a little bit like my own. Let us see what happens to me over the next 20 or 30 years. I hope that I do not get into the situation that the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Mr. Jones) talked about so movingly. Perhaps I should change my ways now. We are talking about young people who die suddenly, although they often appear to be very athletic and social, going out nightclubbing or doing a range of other activities, and they are not targeted by the NHS.
Huw Irranca-Davies: The impact of exercise on those who are particularly vulnerable to such conditions has been repeatedly mentioned during the debate; but, for balance, will my hon. Friend emphasise the importance of well moderated exercise where that can be done? That is a crucial aspect to consider, and I would not want hon. Members to leave the House today thinking that we were constantly attacking exercise per se.
David Wright: My hon. Friend makes a very important point. Indeed, I try to walk up the stairs of Norman Shaw South daily, which is probably the only exercise that I ever get. It is important that we encourage people to exercise, and by encouraging a screening programme, we are certainly not telling people that they must never take any exercise, or go for a cycle ride or a long walk, once they have been screened. The opposite is probably true: we are asking them to understand the regime under which they are operating and to realise how their diet and general level of physical exercise affects their well-being, but to beware of the possible problems. That involves promoting and encouraging understanding. The last thing that we would want to come from such a debate would be a message to discourage people from taking part in physical exercise. That is not what the Bill is about at all. As other hon. Members and I have said, this is about choice. People can decide not to be screened if they want to. The Bill is very much about giving people an opportunity to make an informed choice.
On facilities to promote better cardiac rehabilitation and physiotherapy, we have done some excellent things in my local hospital in Telford, which has fully refurbished its gymnasium. David Platt, the former England player, reopened the facility about six months ago. It is superb; all the kit is new and has been designed to help people who have had heart problems. Such facilities can be made available to people who have been screened and have realised for the first time that they may have a problem. We could see exercise programmes designed to help and support them, professionally put together by the staff who have been involved in
screening them. What we have seen happen in my local hospital is very positive. We are developing more facilities that are funded publicly and by the friends of the hospital to try to assist and support people with heart problems.As I said, the emphasis seems to be placed on older people. We must shift the emphasis away from older people and talk about the whole life cycle, however, and about encouraging people to behave properly throughout their life cycle and to understand where they are in terms of their physical health.
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