Mental care in times of crisis

Today’s Autumn Statement missed an important opportunity to tackle waiting lists and help the NHS meet the needs of heart patients.

At the end of September, there were 409,541 people in the UK waiting for urgent heart treatment. The longer a person waits for treatment, the greater the risk of disability and early death from heart failure.

It looks like it will be a tough winter for the NHS, and there is great concern that there will not be enough funding to cope with growing waiting lists.
Apart from continued efforts to deliver the NHS long-term workforce plan, we have seen no funding for the NHS to address workforce challenges, such as protecting time to attend research and training. That’s too bad.

our comments

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, said: “The Autumn Statement brought little hope to the situation where a record 400,000 people are currently awaiting dire and life-threatening cardiac treatment.

“The Government has promised to reduce waiting lists, but the NHS needs significant ongoing investment and support to do this.

“This statement is a missed opportunity to take stock of the heart health crisis and help create a healthier nation in the process.”

Not focusing on prevention

In line with the Government’s recent commitment to bring forward legislation to help create a smoke-free generation, the Prime Minister has announced an increase in tariffs on all tobacco products to reduce affordability.

While this is welcome, the statement also means that millions of people will be more susceptible to other causes of heart disease, such as obesity, which can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke and put further strain on the NHS. Outlining plans for prevention is neglected.

The pandemic has shown us the importance of building strong and healthy nations.

We have called on governments to invest in chronic disease prevention, including by increasing public health funding to enable local authorities to provide vital support services that can keep more people healthy.

Ambition required for research

It is positive that research and development (R&D) is a priority for governments, but without clear and ambitious spending targets, governments will struggle to achieve their goal of becoming a scientific superpower.

We encourage governments to promote research and development as a driver of economic growth, including by providing greater philanthropic support for research.

Government releases response to major review

Alongside the autumn statement, the government also published its response to the O’Shaughnessy and Nurse reviews.

Focusing respectively on the state of commercial clinical trials and research, development and innovation (RDI), the actions taken by the Government in response to these reviews provide a significant opportunity to improve the UK’s research situation.

They both recognize the importance of medical research charities to UK life sciences and hope the Government will build on this and ensure that charities have a strong voice in this area.

Professor Sir Naresh Samani, our Medical Director, said: “In response to Mr O’Shaughnessy and Mr Nurse’s review, the Government has made a number of welcome commitments to strengthen the UK’s research ecosystem and deliver real health benefits to the public.

“Medical research charities like ours are integral to the UK research environment and we are delighted that their important role is being recognized.

“As we implement these measures, philanthropy must be a key part of the conversation and we look forward to working with the Government to fully realize these ambitions.”

why our hearts need more