Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of considering improvements in quality of care for people with long term chronic conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease as part of the national quality strategy.

Improving the quality of care for people living with long-term chronic conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, is a key priority for the National Health Service. Rather than being incorporated into the National Quality Strategy, which will set out overarching principles and priorities for improving quality, the NHS is working to improve outcomes and experience for people with long-term conditions through clinically-led improvement activity, data-driven benchmarking, and partnership with professional and patient groups. This work complements the National Quality Strategy’s goal of supporting sustainable quality improvement across the health and care system and reducing health inequalities.