Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will fund the provision of a minimum of 1.5 specialist irritable bowel syndrome nurses per 250,000 people.

The Government has no plans to fund the provision of specialist nurses for irritable bowel syndrome. Through the Mandate, we have asked NHS England to deliver continued improvements in relation to the experience of care, including long term conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome. Local healthcare organisations, with their knowledge of the people they serve, are best placed to plan and employ a workforce based on clinical need and sound evidence.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is currently developing a quality standard for irritable bowel syndrome. This is due to be published in September 2014. NHS England expects clinical commissioning groups to take into account the needs of their population and for service providers to be fully aware of the new guidance and to examine the performance of their organisation and assess improvement in standards of care they provide for people with irritable bowel syndrome.