Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department holds data on the number of people who died due to pulmonary fibrosis in each year from 2010-11 to 2020-21 in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland.

The information requested for the number of diagnoses and deaths in England due to pulmonary fibrosis is not held. The information requested for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is not collected as this is a devolved matter.

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence recently undertook a single technology appraisal of nintedanib, an anti-fibrotic drug for use in patients with many different types of progressive lung fibrosis. The drug is being commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement and will be available from 17 February 2022. It is expected it will allow treatment for fibrosis to be administered to a wider group of patients and prolong the lives of many. NHS England and NHS Improvement have amended the dashboard overseeing the performance of specialist interstitial lung disease centres in England. This is intended to deliver improved care for patients with pulmonary fibrosis, focussing on patient outcomes, involvement in research trials and reducing waits in services. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) awarded £696,932 for research into pulmonary fibrosis in 2020/21. Currently, the NIHR supports 122 studies into pulmonary fibrosis.