Calls for heart disease clinics to be rolled out NHS-wide to address ethnic disparity in treatment

Research found black people were less likely to undergo a procedure to replace their aortic valve than white patients. Illustration: DecaStock/Alamy

A pilot programme aimed at diagnosing heart disease among people from ethnic minority backgrounds should be rolled out more widely across the NHS, the doctors behind the initiative have urged.

Aortic stenosis is a condition where the aortic valve, which controls blood moving from the heart to the body, starts restricting blood flow. This causes it to become narrow, resulting in symptoms such as shortness of breath and chest pain.