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 causal link between respiratory diseases and deprivation and its effect on levels of (a) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, (b) cancer, (c) tuberculosis, (d) pneumonia, (e) pulmonary fibrosis and (f) asthma; and what steps he is taking to reduce any such inequalities relating to respiratory diseases.

NHS England is committed to reducing health inequalities, and respiratory disease will be a clinical priority in the National Health Service long-term plan.

Evidence shows that disadvantaged groups and areas of deprivation experience higher incidence rates of respiratory disease (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma). This is in part due to higher levels of smoking, exposure to higher levels of air pollution, poor housing conditions, early life experiences and exposure to occupational hazards.

National programmes such as the Elective Care Programme, NHS RightCare and Getting It Right First Time are focussing on respiratory disease management and have outlined the benefits that improvements in this area can bring to patients.

Cancer of the larynx and lung are more common in the 20% most deprived patients relative to the 20% more well off patients. Smoking and increased alcohol consumption, both risk factors for these cancers, are also more common amongst more deprived populations.

NHS England is to pilot low dose CT scanning for lung cancer, focussing on those clinical commissioning groups with the highest lung cancer mortality and incidence. These pilots, together with the implementation of rapid diagnosis pathways for lung cancer will help to close the gap in inequalities.