Hundreds of people in Dorset could be saved from heart attacks and strokes as the NHS launches a new drive.

Working with Public Health England (PHE), the NHS announced its new initiative to take a more integrated approach to cardiovascular care.

New PHE analysis suggests that there is now an opportunity to prevent more than 9,000 heart attacks and at least 14,000 strokes over the next three years with better detection and management of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and atrial fibrillation.

Sir Bruce Keogh, the national medical director of NHS England, said that closer working between NHS organisations and local authorities will “create new opportunities to get serious about prevention and bear down on two of the biggest killers”.

Sir Bruce said: “Cardiovascular disease kills more people in this country than anything else. We know how to treat the resulting heart attacks and stroke, but everyone knows that prevention is better than cure.”