A COUNCILLOR has called for more focus on the issue of heart health which has not been seen as a priority during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at Cumbria’s Health Scrutiny Committee last week, Cumbria County Council member for Egremont and St Bees, Chris Whiteside said that councillors should be emphasising the importance of heart health.

Health Scrutiny Committees are made up of elected representatives from each council in the county and are designed to scrutinise the work of bodies such as the NHS trusts, to ensure constituents are receiving the best possible service.

During a discussion about the scrutiny committee’s upcoming programme of work, Councillor Chris Whiteside said: "It is a while since we have discussed cardiac care and heart health this is obviously a very important issue.”

Councillor Whiteside said that the Covid-19 pandemic and it’s impact on hospitals has consumed the attention of elected representatives locally.

“It’s one of the things that perhaps hasn’t been as high up the agenda as it otherwise would have been without the pandemic. There’s all sorts of ways, and this might be one, in which the pandemic has had collateral damage caused to other areas in health.”

The seven existing Cumbrian Councils are set to be replaced by two new unitary authorities in 2023.

Cllr Whiteside said that before the new authorities takeover, the current Cumbria Health Scrutiny Committee should ensure that the issue of heart health is not getting lost in the shuffle.

He said: “I think it’s probably time, before this structure winds up and we have the new one, if we could get that onto our work programme in some way shape or form, to ask for a presentation on how heart health is going, whether there are any other issues that need looking at, I think that would be a good idea.”