Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2019 to Question 257660 on Asthma: Health Services, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS treatment for people with severe asthma.

The NHS Long Term Plan has committed to improving outcomes for those with respiratory disease in England to match, or exceed, our international counterparts. To achieve this, the National Health Service is working closely with voluntary sector partners to improve patient outcomes for those with severe asthma and an National Health Service Cardiovascular Disease-Respiratory national programme has been developed in line with recommendations from the Taskforce for Lung Health.

The NHS England Specialised Commissioning team is running a severe asthma collaborative project to improve patient experience, outcomes and safety through improved access to specialist multidisciplinary teams for assessment and review. All specialised providers are required to develop a networked model of care as the vehicle for delivering an optimal pathway and maximising patient outcomes and experience. All specialised services report against national quality metrics for severe asthma services on an annual basis. Commissioner action is initiated with individual hospitals to address significant issues.