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Heart Diseases: Young People

Asked by Jim DicksonLabourDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 20 October 2025UIN 82130

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 September 2025 to Question 75816 on Heart Diseases: Young People, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that people who are (a) asymptomatic and (b) unaware of a family history also are screened.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

In the United Kingdom, national screening programmes are introduced based on the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific advisory committee which advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries on all aspects of population and targeted screening and supports implementation.

The UK NSC last reviewed screening for sudden cardiac death (SCD) in people under the age of 39 years old in 2019 and concluded that population screening should not be offered. Information on that review is available at the following link:

https://view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk/sudden-cardiac-death/

The UK NSC is currently examining the evidence for SCD screening and will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on this in due course.

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