11 Dec 2025
CVDPREVENT, which aims to support quality improvement in the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in primary care in England, has published its latest annual audit report.
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of premature mortality in England
Based on data up to March 2025, it contains key findings relating to hypertension, cholesterol, and chronic kidney disease (CKD). These include the fact that 30% of patients with diagnosed hypertension (2.7 million patients) are still not treated to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) target for hypertension, or that there is no current record of blood pressure, and younger age groups with hypertension are still less likely to be treated to the QOF threshold than older groups.
The report identifies two key opportunities for improvement relating to potential missed diagnosis for cardiovascular related conditions, and NICE recommended cholesterol targets. In addition to a call for NHS England to keep blood pressure treatment to target as a national priority, it also includes the following national recommendations for Integrated Care Systems to:
- Deliver cholesterol management improvement locally
- Address health inequalities in CVD prevention, focusing on groups with the poorest outcomes
- Prioritise CKD care by increasing uptake of annual urine albumin-creatinine ratio testing for patients with CKD, and reviewing those with CKD, hypertension and proteinuria to ensure appropriate initiation or optimisation of Renin-Angiotensin System antagonist therapy
- Strengthen the use of available patient record data to drive targeted case finding for undiagnosed cardiovascular-related conditions.
Read the full report: You can view the report by clicking the button below.
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