ARRHYTHMIA AWARENESS WEEK

Early day motion 1150, tabled 10 May 2004 by Rudi Vis (Labour). Signed by 75 members.

That this House congratulates those organisations behind the Arrhythmia Awareness Week in their campaign to improve the awareness, diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, a condition responsible for significant morbidity, mortality and cost to society, including the 90,000 fatalities annually from sudden cardiac death, potentially fatal cardiomyopathies affecting one in every two hundred and fifty people, the three per cent. of hospital emergency admissions due to syncopal episodes, and many of the 30 per cent. of people misdiagnosed with, and unnecessarily treated for, epilepsy; welcomes the recent Government announcement establishing an expert group to advise the Department of Health on cardiac arrhythmias as a possible starting point; and calls on an extention to the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease to specify aggressive and challenging targets for the diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmias.

Signatures by party: Labour 42, Liberal Democrat 13, Conservative 9, DUP 3, Labour/Co-operative 3, Plaid Cymru 3, UUP 2.