Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to improve awareness of and early intervention for rheumatoid arthritis.

In 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published clinical guidance on the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adults, which set outs best practice on the diagnosis, care, treatment and support of patients. The guidance makes clear the importance of early diagnosis and is explicit that suspected cases should be referred as an urgent priority for specialist assessment and that early initiation of treatment can prevent irreversible damage to joints.

In addition to this, information on the diagnosis and treatment of RA can also be accessed via the NICE Clinical Knowledge summaries website at:

http://cks.nice.org.uk/rheumatoid-arthritis

and more general information for the public can be found on the NHS Choices website at:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis

Through the mandate we have asked NHS England to make measurable progress towards making our health service among the best in Europe at supporting people with ongoing health problems, such as RA, to live healthily and independently, with much better control over the care they receive.