65 years of the British Heart Foundation

This is a personal post for me. I was born with a congenital heart defect that I’ve only recently found out about, so the fight against heart disease and stroke is one I am passionate about, not just as a policy area.

On Thursday I lead a debate in Westminster Hall on reducing premature deaths from heart disease and stroke. Around 170,000 people in the UK die from CVD every year - that's one life every 3 minutes, and for the first time in over 50 years we're going backwards, not forwards.

I'll be pushing the Minister on when we'll actually see the new Modern Service Framework for CVD, and what's being done to stop people dying younger than they should.

It's also 65 years since the British Heart Foundation was founded, so a fitting moment to make the case. I recently visited one of their red benches as part of the Living Memory campaign. It’s a small but powerful reminder of just how many lives this cause touches.

The debate was held in Westminster Hall on Thursday 2nd July at 1.30pm and you can watch it on ParliTV https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Guide. Here's a brief clip: