Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support people with cystic fibrosis.

Since 1 April 2013, NHS England has been responsible for securing high quality care for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) as part of its specialised commissioning responsibilities. NHS England has published two CF service specifications, one for adults and one for children, recognising that, whilst similar, adults and children with CF do have differing needs and that it is important that the service provided should reflect this. The specifications are available at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/01/a01-spec-cystic-fibrosis-adlt.pdf

and

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/01/a01-spec-cystic-fibrosis-child.pdf

The specifications are important in clearly defining what NHS England expects to be in place for providers to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. They ensure equity of access to a nationally consistent, high quality service for patients.

Specialist centres are responsible for providing the care plan for all patients. This includes the responsibility for determining when high cost CF drugs should be prescribed. Care will be delivered by a multi-disciplinary team of trained, experienced, specialist healthcare professionals who routinely care for a critical mass of CF patients at a specialist centre.