Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the delivery of NICE guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of pernicious anaemia.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines provide comprehensive, evidence-based guidance for the health and care system on best practice in a defined area. They are developed by experts based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and through extensive engagement with interested parties, including patient groups.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are mainly responsible for the referral of clinically-focused guideline topics to NICE. NHS England and NHS Improvement have asked NICE to develop a guideline on pernicious anaemia. This was commissioned on 9 March 2020 and further information on timescales will be available on NICE’s website in due course.