Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the implications for the NHS of the paper by Stephenson et al, A contemporary survival analysis of individuals with cystic fibrosis, published in the European Respiratory Journal, Volume 45, March 2015; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the NHS is adequately resourced to cope with an increase in cystic fibrosis patients over the next 10 years.

Since 1 April NHS England has been responsible for securing high quality outcomes for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) as part of its remit to deliver specialised services. The CF service specifications (one for adults and one for children) NHS England has published sets out what providers must have in place in offer high quality CF care and support equity of access to services for patients wherever they live. Both specifications can be viewed at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-a/a01/.

NHS England’s CF Clinical Reference Group, which advises on the development of services for patents, keeps relevant published literature under review. Moreover, it is recognised that the number of adults living with CF is gradually increasing over time, because of improvements in diagnosis and treatment. The growth in numbers is taken into account by NHS England as part of its annual commissioning process and will be considered in the ongoing development of its five year specialised commissioning strategy.