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Vital Signs: Heart disease & stroke

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Who is shaping the debate on heart disease & stroke: in Parliament, in the press, and among the experts the press turns to.

See the 6 search terms behind this page ↓

02  Who is talking  ·  pick a lens

03  The signal  ·  Where it is spoken from

398

of 1,439 MPs & peers have spoken on heart disease & stroke since 9 July 2024 · 634 Commons contributions from 278 constituencies · latest sitting indexed 27 October 2026

0Hansard contributions per seat21

Seats shaded by Hansard contributions on this topic. Lines join the 9 MPs in this list to their constituencies; peers have no seat and no line.

#Most activeSignalScore
  1. 01—Jim ShannonDemocratic Unionist Party · Strangford · Commons63
  2. 02—Dr Caroline JohnsonShadowConservative · Sleaford and North Hykeham · Commons · Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)60
  3. 03—Stephen KinnockCabinetLabour · Aberafan Maesteg · Commons · Secretary of State for Wales42
  4. 04—Baroness MerronMinisterLabour · House of Lords · Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)40
  5. 05—Wes StreetingCabinetLabour · Ilford North · Commons · Secretary of State for Defence33
  6. 06—Ashley DaltonLabour · West Lancashire · Commons33
  7. 07—Karin SmythMinisterLabour · Bristol South · Commons · Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)30
  8. 08—Helen MorganSpokespersonLiberal Democrat · North Shropshire · Commons · Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Health and Social Care)30
  9. 09—Sarah DykeSpokespersonLiberal Democrat · Glastonbury and Somerton · Commons · Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Rural Affairs)27
  10. 10—Rachael MaskellLabour (Co-op) · York Central · Commons24

Score is a weighted Hansard contribution score for this topic since 9 July 2024. Portraits: UK Parliament Members API. Rank change (▲/▼) is vs. 7 days ago.

Hansard · weekly mentions

85 mentions in the last 8 sitting weeks, 87 in the 8 before

RecessJul 24Jan 25Jul 25Jan 26Jul 2642 · w/c 27 Oct10 · w/c 19 Oct

Recess weeks are not counted: sitting weeks are compared with sitting weeks, and the current week is left off until it is complete. Parliament was in recess 21 Sept to 11 Oct 2026. 892 mentions since 9 July 2024.

Press · articles per week

627 articles in 56 weeks, 211 of them in the last five

Jan 2026Jul76 · w/c 7 Sep

Source: Guardian archive, trade press and news search: a sample of coverage, not an exhaustive count. Weekly article counts to w/c 19 Oct; weeks not yet ingested are dropped rather than shown as zero.

Parliament · party split

Share of scored contributions

  • Labour178 members48%
  • Conservative97 members21%
  • Liberal Democrat62 members18%
  • Crossbench24 members4%
  • Others (12 groups)37 members9%

Labour members account for 48% of the scored contributions on this topic, across 16 party groups in both Houses.

Parliament · reach

Members who have spoken

398of 1,439 MPs & peers

28% of the roster has spoken on this topic since 9 July 2024: one square per member, 278 MPs (navy) and 120 peers (cobalt).

Briefing · Parliament

Cardiac arrest response, vascular care and heart risks from noise and smoking come up across debates

  1. In the Commons debate on sudden cardiac death in young people (1 September), Greg Smith (Conservative) drew on the inquest into Adam's death to make seven requests. They included CQC assessment of 999 call handlers, an independent review of NHS Pathways and a dated review of how genetic findings reach relatives. Peter Swallow, Tim Roca and Michelle Scrogham (all Labour) asked about screening, fundraising by bereaved families and a national prevention strategy.
  2. Responding, the Minister Mr James Frith (Labour) said NHS Pathways accepts over-triage as an intentional safety feature. He said CPR training will extend to all NHS staff from April 2027 and that the CQC assesses call handlers as part of inspections. He offered to meet Mr Smith and Adam's parents.
  3. Related questions came up elsewhere. On 3 September Jessica Toale (Labour) asked at Business of the House for more awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, and Sir Alan Campbell (Labour) said the UK National Screening Committee had run a consultation. On 21 October Amanda Hack (Labour) told the Prime Minister that North West Leicestershire's out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rate is 3.5% and asked for a meeting on defibrillator access.
  4. In the vascular sector reform debate (10 September), Jim Shannon (DUP) said the cardiovascular disease modern service framework lacks detailed pathways and standards for lower limb care, and raised postcode variation. Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative) described avoidable harm from delayed diagnosis and fragmented services. Mr Frith pointed to the framework's ambition to cut premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by a quarter within a decade, and Juliet Campbell (Labour) asked for more attention to heart failure.
  5. Cardiovascular risk was also raised in other debates. Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat) and John McDonnell (Labour) cited cardiovascular harm from aircraft noise in the Heathrow expansion debate (20 October). In the Smoke-free UK debate (15 October), Danny Beales and Dame Diana Johnson (both Labour) cited heart attack and stroke risks from smoking. In the Lords Health Bill debate (13 October), Baroness Cash (Conservative) argued for statutory recording of sex data, citing heart attack misdiagnosis in women.

Verbatim

  • If young people are taking part in organised sport, those supervising them must know how to respond when something goes wrong.

    Greg Smith · Conservative, Mid Buckinghamshire · Sudden Cardiac Death: Young People · 1 Sept 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

  • The challenge we face in improving the sensitivity of cardiac arrest identification is to do so in a way that does not generate false positives.

    Mr James Frith · Labour, Bury North · Sudden Cardiac Death: Young People · 1 Sept 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

  • The cardiovascular disease modern service framework rightly focuses on shared risk factors and acknowledges PAD, but its immediate priorities lack the explicit, detailed pathways, treatment standards and outcome measures urgently required for lower limb vascular care.

    Jim Shannon · Democratic Unionist Party, Strangford · Vascular Sector Reform · 10 Sept 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

  • People living in communities surrounding Heathrow have a 24% higher chance of stroke, a 21% higher chance of heart disease and a 14% higher chance of cardiovascular disease compared with people exposed to low levels of aircraft noise.

    Sarah Olney · Liberal Democrat, Richmond Park · Heathrow Airport Expansion · 20 Oct 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

  • Women are 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed after a heart attack because the textbook symptoms are male.

    Baroness Cash · Conservative, House of Lords · Health Bill · 13 Oct 2026
    Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

AI-drafted from 60 Hansard contributions over 22 sitting days · 1 September 2026 to 22 October 2026 · No sittings were recorded between 18 September 2026 and 11 October 2026. · quotes are exact copies of the Hansard record, speakers taken from the record · generated 24 Oct 2026 · how briefings are made

Expert voices · press citations

The most quoted voices on this topic

40 of 372 expert voices, 116 citations across 3 groups. Click a group to open it as a lens on the map.

Clinicians

15 · 51 citationsOpen lens ↑
  • Professor Azeem MajeedProfessor of primary care and public health at Imperial College London7
  • Dr AzeemThe Express GP7
  • Dr Maxime Taquetclinical lecturer at the University of Oxford5
  • Dr Sonya Babu-NarayanBritish Heart Foundation4
  • Dr Keith HopcroftPulse clinical adviser4
  • Professor Victoria Tzortziou BrownRoyal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)3
  • Dr Mark RussellClinical senior lecturer and consultant rheumatologist at King's College London3
  • Cheng-Han ChenMD, board certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA3
  • Lorie Gage RichardsPh.D., FAHA, volunteer chair of the new guideline, associate professor at the University of Utah and an occupational therapist3
  • Ruth Gosssenior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation2
  • Christopher P. Cannon, MDProfessor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, senior physician in the Preventive Cardiology section of the Cardiovascular2
  • Dr Amanda Jonesstroke nurse consultant2
  • Dr David LloydConsultant in paediatric and foetal cardiology at Evelina London Children's Hospital2
  • Dr Vinit Surisenior consultant, Neurology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi2
  • Dr. Matthew EdwardsonAssociate professor of neurology and rehabilitation medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine2

Academics

24 · 63 citationsOpen lens ↑
  • Professor Bryan WilliamsProfessor6
  • Dr Bernie MardenChief Medical Officer for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, NHS Dorset and NHS Somerset Integrated Care Boards5
  • Robert H. Shmerling, MDSenior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing4
  • Fu Siong NgProfessor of Cardiology and Programme Director for the Imperial-led training programme4
  • Professor Lu QiMD, PhD, FAHA, lead study author from Tulane University3
  • Thomas MünzelMD, Environmental Cardiologist at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and Chairman of the European Society of Cardiology Task Force on Environmental Sustainability3
  • Professor Kausik Rayworld-renowned preventative cardiologist at Imperial College London3
  • Stacey E. RosenM.D., FAHA, volunteer president of the American Heart Association3
  • Professor Lucy ChappellChief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR2
  • Dr Ahmed El-MedanyBHF clinical research fellow, who led the analysis at Imperial College London2
  • Dr Viana Copelandclinician and research fellow specialising in heart failure, specifically in women2
  • Dr Xenophon KassianidesGPwER in CVRM Medicine2
  • Riyaz PatelProfessor of cardiology at University College London and clinical lead for preventive cardiology at Barts Heart Centre2
  • Dan Atar, MDMember of the European Society of Cardiology Communication Committee2
  • Dr Emily Lauco-director of the Mass General Brigham Women's Heart Health program2
  • Dr Eric HarshfieldAlzheimer's Society Research Fellow at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences2
  • Dr Sheharyar Baigneurologist at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital2
  • Dr Ting Cairesearch fellow in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford2
  • Dr. Adedapo Iluyomadepreventive cardiologist and medical director of the cardiometabolic clinic at Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute2
  • Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merzcardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles2
  • Dr. Karen Joynt Maddoxcardiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, vice chair of the Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research at the American Heart Association2
  • Dr. Latha P. Palaniappanprofessor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University2
  • Hatem Lazemphysiotherapist and academic researcher2
  • Marco Witkowski, MD, PhDStudy author from Charité University Hospital in Berlin, Germany2

Regulators & officials

1 · 2 citationsOpen lens ↑
  • Helen KnightNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)2

Methodology

How Vital Signs ranks

Parliament. Every Hansard contribution on a topic since 9 July 2024 is scored by type and summed per member; the map colours each constituency by how often its MP has raised the topic. Peers sit in no constituency and are ranked but not mapped.

Press. Bylines rank journalists and quotations rank expert voices, across the Guardian archive and trade press Vital Signs has read. A voice’s pin marks its organisation’s base, never the person’s home.

Briefings. Drafted by an AI model from the underlying Hansard text or articles. Every quotation in a Parliament briefing is an exact copy of the Hansard record and linked to it; press quotations are as the linked articles reported them. The speaker is always taken from the record, not the model.

Search terms for Heart disease & stroke. These are the exact terms used to find what appears on this page.

Parliament: 6 terms

A Hansard contribution counts toward this topic when it contains any of these, matched as whole words.

  • heart disease
  • cardiovascular
  • stroke
  • cardiac
  • heart attack
  • stroke rehabilitation

News search: 5 terms, run each week

Each term is searched separately on Google News. Where a term only extends an earlier one (“cancer treatment” after “cancer”), it is skipped.

  • heart disease
  • cardiovascular
  • stroke
  • cardiac
  • heart attack

Guardian: 1 editor tag

The Guardian archive is read by its editors’ tags, not by keyword, so an article only counts if a Guardian editor filed it under one of these.

  • society/heart-disease

Trade press: 1 outlet

Read by each outlet’s own category for this topic, not by keyword.

  • Pulse Today
Read the full methodology →Check your MP’s record →

Profiles

More on heart disease & stroke

Voices in the press

Journalists

Beyond Parliament

In care homes

A consultant-led care framework for heart disease and stroke, for UK care homes.

Headland Care Consulting condition framework for heart disease and strokeHeadland is a separate venture, founded by Dr Sheel Mehta and William Walter, Bridgehead’s Managing Director. Vital Signs does not rate or endorse it.