Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms have been put in place to identify accurately the number of individuals diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis within the NHS in England.

Improving Lives - The Work, Health and Disability Green Paper, published on 31 October 2016, sets out the Government’s commitment to work with NHS England to identify opportunities for regular collection of data about incidence, prevalence, clinical activity and outcomes of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions and services in England. The Government’s Mandate to NHS England reiterated this commitment.

On 30 November 2017, the Government published Improving Lives - The Future of Work, Health and Disability in response to the Green Paper. This builds on the commitment to identify opportunities for routine data collection about MSK incidence, prevalence, clinical activity, and outcomes. The report outlined that a data advisory group, led by Arthritis Research UK, has been examining the issue. On 1 December 2017, the advisory group presented its recommendations to NHS England, which is currently considering the appropriate next steps.

Improving Lives - The Future of Work, Health and Disability can be found at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-lives-the-future-of-work-health-and-disability