Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to improve access to pulmonary rehabilitation for adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease living in Blaydon and Consett constituency.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

In the Blaydon and Consett area, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is primarily delivered by the Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust. Since April 2024, the trust's physiotherapy and occupational therapy services have undertaken a comprehensive redesign of the PR service. This restructure aims to ensure equity of access for all patients across the referral catchment area and to guarantee consistency in both the clinical content and delivery of the course.

The redesigned service is now fully operational, and the trust will be monitoring patient outcomes and attendance figures throughout the coming year to ensure the new structure delivers the intended improvements in patient health and service reach.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he make an assessment of the potential merits of a Modern Service Framework for respiratory health to help improve referral and take up rates of pulmonary rehabilitation.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve the 37% referral rates of eligible patients for pulmonary rehabilitation.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

To improve referral rates for pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), NHS England has issued detailed guidance to integrated care boards on strengthening PR workforce capacity, ensuring safe staffing levels, and developing accessible service models to reduce health inequalities. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/pulmonary-rehabilitation-workforce/

NHS England has additionally recently published guidance on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biologics that reiterates the need for PR to be taken into account when planning care for people with COPD. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/business-case-guidance-copd-biologics/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the potential impact of increasing national pulmonary rehabilitation referral rates on (a) clinical outcomes for patients, (b) NHS emergency admission rates, and (c) economic productivity lost to respiratory-related illness and caring responsibilities.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a clinically proven intervention that improves outcomes and reduces hospital admissions for people with chronic respiratory conditions. Health Education England reported in 2022 that increasing access to PR for people with lung conditions could save NHS England £69 million every year and see a reduction of 150,924 general practice appointments, and 26,633 fewer hospital admissions per year. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Respiratory%20Disease%20Report.pdf

NHS England has additionally recently published guidance on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biologics that reiterates the need for PR to be taken into account when planning care for people with COPD. This provides cost and health benefit information for integrated care boards to help create business cases for setting up COPD services. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/business-case-guidance-copd-biologics/

NHS England holds a quarterly PR steering group that provides direction, challenge and support for decision-making, and monitors progress against set metrics as reported through the national respiratory audit programme. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nrap.org.uk/NRAP/welcome.nsf/0/B2AB84D12BC2C43280258CF20030EC2C/$file/NRAP_State_of_the_Nation_Catching_our_breath_2025.pdf

Steve Cram CBE

Found: Alan Strickland St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Blackhill DH8 8JD County Durham North East Liz Twist

Found: Alan Strickland St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Blackhill DH8 8JD County Durham North East Liz Twist