Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people had COPD conditions in each year from 2007 to 2017.

The information requested is shown in the following table:

The number of people registered at a general practitioner practice who had a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at 31 March between 2006-07 and 2017-18 in England.

Notes:

1. All data above is taken from Quality Outcomes Framework publications.
2. Figures are correct at March 31 of year. i.e. 2017-18 data is correct as at 31 March 2018.
3. Register is defined as the number of people registered with a general practitioner with a diagnosis of COPD.
4. It should be noted that a single patient may appear in the figures for multiple years as the list of those with a diagnosis not those with a new diagnosis, therefore the figures cannot be summed to get the total number of people diagnosed between 2006-07 and 2017-18.

The National Health Service has acted to improve the rate of diagnosis and quality of care of those with COPD through:

- the introduction of guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to help more people benefit from earlier diagnosis and treatment;

- the National COPD Audit Programme led by the Royal College of Physicians;

- the publication of NHS England’s RightCare optimal pathway for COPD; and

- national respiratory symptom awareness campaigns run by Public Health England.