Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what further discussions his Department has had with (a) NHS England and (b) the Health and Social Care Information Centre on the inclusion of musculoskeletal conditions in the care.data programme.

The Department wrote to the Medical Director of Arthritis Research UK on 12 May 2014 (a copy is attached) saying NHS England would be willing to engage with them to look at the inclusion of musculoskeletal conditions in the care.data programme.

NHS England has had discussions with a range of stakeholders, including Arthritis Research UK, to establish a range of changes are needed to ensure that the dataset suits the needs of all. These changes include expanding the list of codes to cover a wider range of diagnoses, for example, rheumatoid arthritis, and linking to other datasets, not just to hospital data. The care.data programme board has agreed that a public consultation will be conducted after the end of the pathfinder stage. The purpose of this consultation will be to allow all stakeholders the opportunity to have their say about any expansion to the dataset in an open and transparent manner.