Launching the ‘Better Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke Care’ consultation, Public Health Minister Shona Robison said that a “fresh focus” was needed to reduce CHD and stroke deaths.  

Government figures show that CHD deaths fell by 32 per cent between 1997 and 2006, from 14,012 to 9,532, and stroke deaths fell by 45 percent, from 9,959 to 5,479. However, while welcoming the progress that has been made Robison said there is still a need for a “long term action plan to further drive down rates of CHD and stroke.” 

She continued: "This Government is already taking bold action to cut levels of obesity, smoking and alcohol misuse, which all contribute to CHD and stroke prevalence.  

 "As well as taking into account preventative measures like encouraging healthy lifestyles, we want to eradicate as far as possible the health inequalities that still exist and ensure that patients receive the best quality of care. 

In addition, other issues for discussion raised in the consultation include how to improve the range and quality of CHD and stroke services; how a greater emphasis can be placed on securing earlier diagnosis and better care; and how new technology can be used to better support CHD and stroke services. 

Robison added: "This consultation seeks to gather a range of views on how we can further improve services and make them more responsive to patient needs and wishes.   

"We will then draw on these to produce an action plan that will form the core of the revised strategy, which we'll publish before the end of this year."  

The consultation will run until 24 October 2008. The full consultation document will be available here