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 improve sickle cell patient care in response to avoidable deaths and failures of care for sickle cell patients in secondary care.

The Department is taking several steps to improve sickle cell patient care. These are in line with the recommendations of the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sickle Cell and Thalassemia, published in November 2021, titled ‘No One’s Listening’. The Department has been commissioned to coordinate a cross system action plan, as part of the health disparities white paper, about how we can work to address each of these recommendations. Additionally, the England Rare Diseases action plan, due for publication in February, will detail steps towards meeting the priorities of the 2021 UK Rare Diseases Framework, including actions to improve awareness of rare diseases, such as sickle cell, amongst healthcare professionals.