Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to improve the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

NHS England has established 13 respiratory clinical networks with primary care and community services to manage the diagnosis and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Quality Outcomes Framework for 2022/23 includes respiratory indicators in relation to the diagnosis of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which was fully re-instated in April 2022.

Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are also delivering additional, digitally connected, diagnostic capacity. This includes a pilot pathway for the diagnosis of undifferentiated breathlessness in a number of CDCs, with a view to wider deployment.