Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of patients awaiting an appointment at a severe asthma centre.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The NHS England and NHS Improvement Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) on Improving Access to Biologic Therapy estimates that approximately 200,000 or 5% of patients with asthma have severe asthma. Of these patients, the AAC estimates that between 50,000 to 100,000 may be eligible for biologic therapy, with approximately 11,000 patients receiving this treatment. The AAC aims to improve the identification of these patients in primary and secondary care settings, to allow referrals to specialist severe asthma centres to determine their suitability for biologic treatment.
No specific estimate of the number of patients awaiting an appointment at a severe asthma centre has been made as this information is not collected in the format requested. No specific assessment has been made of the effectiveness of home administration of biologics for severe asthma. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s COVID-19 rapid guideline on severe asthma promoted the use of home administration for biologic treatments to maintain access and reduce risks to patients of COVID-19 exposure. While we are ensuring that patients who are eligible for this treatment are able to access it, there are no plans to extend the eligibility criteria.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of patients who are eligible for biologic treatment for severe asthma who are not currently accessing it.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The NHS England and NHS Improvement Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) on Improving Access to Biologic Therapy estimates that approximately 200,000 or 5% of patients with asthma have severe asthma. Of these patients, the AAC estimates that between 50,000 to 100,000 may be eligible for biologic therapy, with approximately 11,000 patients receiving this treatment. The AAC aims to improve the identification of these patients in primary and secondary care settings, to allow referrals to specialist severe asthma centres to determine their suitability for biologic treatment.
No specific estimate of the number of patients awaiting an appointment at a severe asthma centre has been made as this information is not collected in the format requested. No specific assessment has been made of the effectiveness of home administration of biologics for severe asthma. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s COVID-19 rapid guideline on severe asthma promoted the use of home administration for biologic treatments to maintain access and reduce risks to patients of COVID-19 exposure. While we are ensuring that patients who are eligible for this treatment are able to access it, there are no plans to extend the eligibility criteria.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of covid-19 on people with asthma and severe asthma.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As COVID-19 is a new disease, it is not yet clear what the physical, neurological, psychological and rehabilitation impacts will be for those with conditions such as asthma and severe asthma.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
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 reduce the geographical variation in the prescribing of biologics for severe asthma.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimate has been made and information on the number of severe asthma patients are receiving biologic therapies is not available in the format requested.
Clinicians are responsible for making prescribing decisions for their patients, taking into account the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisals and guidance on management of asthma and the local commissioning decisions. Prescribing of biologics for severe asthma is co-ordinated through severe asthma centre multi-disciplinary teams to ensure current treatments are optimised and all appropriate treatments are considered with use of biologics as part of the treatment review for each patient.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many severe asthma patients are receiving biologic therapies through (a) the severe asthma networks and (b) other services.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimate has been made and information on the number of severe asthma patients are receiving biologic therapies is not available in the format requested.
Clinicians are responsible for making prescribing decisions for their patients, taking into account the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisals and guidance on management of asthma and the local commissioning decisions. Prescribing of biologics for severe asthma is co-ordinated through severe asthma centre multi-disciplinary teams to ensure current treatments are optimised and all appropriate treatments are considered with use of biologics as part of the treatment review for each patient.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the size of the eligible population among severe asthma suffers for biologic treatments.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimate has been made and information on the number of severe asthma patients are receiving biologic therapies is not available in the format requested.
Clinicians are responsible for making prescribing decisions for their patients, taking into account the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisals and guidance on management of asthma and the local commissioning decisions. Prescribing of biologics for severe asthma is co-ordinated through severe asthma centre multi-disciplinary teams to ensure current treatments are optimised and all appropriate treatments are considered with use of biologics as part of the treatment review for each patient.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timescale is for patients with severe asthma who are shielding during the covid-19 outbreak and who have been taught to self-administer their medication at home to return to clinical supervision.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
People with severe asthma are not currently being asked to shield. The decision to continue self-administration of home biologics will be made between the person with severe asthma and their specialist centre on how best to manage their condition.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what help is available for asthma sufferers to enable them to continue to self-administer their medication due to the pressures on the NHS during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Specialist respiratory services for severe asthma, along with urgent and emergency treatment for other serious complaints, have continued throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. In most cases people with severe asthma have been able to receive their medication at home instead of having to attend hospital.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence COVID-19 rapid guideline on severe asthma promoted the use of home delivery for biologic treatments to maintain access and reduce the risks to patients of COVID-19 exposure. The NHS England severe asthma ‘Accelerated Access Collaborative’ will continue to focus on the area of home administration.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what has been the effect of home delivery of biologic medication for asthma patients on patient outcomes.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No specific assessment has been made of the effect of home delivery of asthma biologic medication on patient outcomes.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the roll out of asthma diagnostic hubs, set out in NICE Guidance NG80.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Community Diagnostic Hubs (CDHs), which diagnose a number of conditions, will be launched in place of asthma diagnostic hubs. Diagnostics for respiratory conditions are part of the proposed ‘core’ services to be provided by CDHs. A review of diagnostics in the NHS Long Term Plan, highlighted that patients with respiratory symptoms would benefit from this facility due to the number of diagnostic tests that they use.
In 2021/22, £325 million has been allocated for diagnostic services. Discussions on how funding will be allocated are ongoing. Plans for mobilisation of CDHs from across England are currently under review. NHS England and NHS Improvement have approved the mobilisation of some early adopter sites from summer 2021 with more CDHs opening from autumn 2021.