STATINS DO SAVE LIVES

IMAGINE there is a drug that can prevent a serious disease. Surely patients would clamour for it — and doctors would be flat out prescribing it.

Well, that drug exists: statins can prevent heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. Yet new NHS England figures show that more than 150,000 patients

a year at risk of heart disease are not getting them.

But doctors and patients are wary after much publicity about their side-effects.

Patients must always be free to exercise their wishes, but the fact that so many are missing out on the potential lifesaving benefits saddens me.