Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

(asked on 11th July 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that the 2013 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis guidelines, drawn up by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, are fully implemented.


Answered by
 Portrait
Jane Ellison
This question was answered on 21st July 2014

Reducing mortality and improving outcomes for people with respiratory disease is a key priority for this Government. It is specifically covered in both the Public Health and NHS Outcome Frameworks. NHS England is working to improve the quality of NHS services, and will be held to account through the Mandate.

The responsibility for the commissioning of services for interstitial lung disease (ILD) sits under the umbrella of specialised commissioning within NHS England. It has published a service specification for ILD at:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a14-respiratory-inters-lung.pdf

Pages 3 and 4 of this specification set out the overall aim of the specialist service and how a standardised approach to treatment across the country should be delivered.

In line with the implementation of all specialised commissioning specifications, NHS England is undertaking a compliance programme assessing all current providers of ILD services against a set of key requirements from the specification.

Area Teams are now working with providers to commission the services and once arrangements have been agreed then the list of ILD centres will be made public. We expect this exercise to be completed later in the year.

In April 2013, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a technology appraisal advising on the use of Pirfenidone as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). In June 2013, NICE published its first clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of IPF. The use of other treatments for the management of ILD are also covered by the NICE guidelines. We expect commissioners to have regard to NICE guidelines when commissioning services.

NHS England funds the treatment of patients with Pirfenidone, in line with the NICE appraisal, from centres that are contracted to provide specialised services for patients with ILD.

There were no awareness raising campaigns specifically targeted at IFP in the specified timeframe. Though IPF was not directly referenced, Public Health England recently ran a local pilot campaign in Oldham and Rochdale to raise awareness amongst the public about the importance of visiting their general practitioner with symptoms of breathlessness.

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