Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to support the devolved nations access to (a) the ESCAPE-pain programme and (b) other community structured rehabilitation programmes.

ESCAPE-Pain is a group-based, six week rehabilitation programme which combines exercise and education to help patients manage chronic joint pain using exercise and coping techniques. The programme is endorsed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and has received Best Practice Awards from the British Society of Rheumatology and Royal Society of Public Health.

The programme, which is running at over 30 sites across England, can be provided in physiotherapy departments, the community and places of work, and lessons can also be accessed via an app that is free to download. Commissioning of self-management and rehabilitation programmes, such as ESCAPE-Pain, is a local matter.

Health is a devolved matter, and decisions about use of the ESCAPE-Pain programme in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland would be a matter for the devolved administrations of those countries.