PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(16 June 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the gap between NHS England's 2018 commissioning target of 1,000 left atrial appendage occlusion procedures per annum and current delivery.

Asked by:
Rebecca Smith (Conservative)

Oversight of left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) activity and delivery sits with integrated care boards (ICBs) and NHS England regional commissioning teams, who work in close collaboration with cardiac networks to monitor activity and equity of access for patients across England.

NHS England therefore has not undertaken a formal national assessment of regional access to LAAO. The original Commissioning through Evaluation programme estimated demand and future growth in LAAO activity, but it was not a commissioning target. Actual activity is lower than estimated demand, reflecting the impact of COVID-19 and wider system constraints.

NHS England commissioned the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research to develop a national LAAO registry, which is publicly available and supports transparency of activity and outcomes. Further information on the LAAO registry is available at the following link:

https://www.nicor.org.uk/interactive-reports/left-atrial-appendage-occlusion-laao-registry

Answered by:
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