Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the implementation of the new NICE Quality Standard on Spondyloarthritis, QS170 on the time taken for the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis; and if he will make a statement.

No assessment has been made.

On 28 June 2018, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a new Quality Standard (QS) on spondyloarthritis. The QS includes four quality statements identified as the markers of high quality spondyloarthritis care. The first statement sets out that “Adults with suspected axial or peripheral spondyloarthritis are referred to a rheumatologist.” The standard advises that this may be monitored through local data collection, such as audit of patient records.

QSs are important in setting out to patients, the public, commissioners and providers what a high quality service should look like in a particular area of care. Whilst providers and commissioners must have regard to NICE QSs in planning and delivering services, they do not provide a comprehensive service specification and are not mandatory.