Heart disease is Britain's number one killer

Figures released by the Department of Health show doctors are prescribing statins to over one million people on the NHS.

Studies have shown that statins are very effective at lowering cholesterol and reducing the risks of having a heart attack or stroke.

However, they are expensive and have not always been available throughout the UK on the NHS.

Three years ago, the government published its national service framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease.

It recommended that statins be made available to all patients who need them.

More prescriptions

According to the Department of Health, the number of prescriptions for statins has increased by 30% since the publication of the framework.

Officials have also revealed that waiting times for heart surgery have improved dramatically over the past three years.

In March 2000, there were nearly 2,000 patients waiting over 12 months for heart surgery. At present no patients are waiting this long and ministers are hoping to introduce a maximum nine month wait for an operation in April.

Surgeons are also carrying out more operations, up from 40,983 in 2000 to 53,000 this year while the number of cardiac specialists has increased from 467 to 590 over the same period.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn hailed the figures. "We are now making real progress in tackling heart disease - our country's biggest killer.

"There is a long way to go but NHS heart services are steadily improving."

Dr Roger Boyle, the government's national director for heart disease, said prescribing statins to at risk patients was saving lives.

"We know that we can save many lives a year by giving statins to patients with heart disease and those at high risk of developing it."

'Seeds of change'

Professor Sir Charles George, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, welcomed the figures which he said showed the NSF was working.

"The NSF sowed the seeds of change for heart patients, promising better diagnosis and quicker access to treatment.

"Now we are reaping the benefits and can already see the difference that this programme has made to the quality of life of thousands of patients across the country."

Bruce Keogh, secretary of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons, added: "It is invigorating to work in an environment where waiting lists are plummeting; where the number of trainees in cardiac surgery has doubled; where new cardiac centres are being built and existing centres modernised and expanded; and where the results for heart surgery continue to improve and are better than most of the developed world."

Ministers have pledged to cut deaths from heart disease and stroke in people under the age of 75 by two fifths by 2010.