Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of specialist care for people with Interstitial Lung Disease and Pulmonary Fibrosis for people in West Oxfordshire.

NHS England is responsible for the commissioning of interstitial lung disease (ILD) services and funds the anti-fibrotic treatments that are part of the treatment pathway for ILD.

No assessment of the West Oxfordshire service has been made. However, the national service specification describes the standards required of clinical teams to support patients physically and emotionally with the diagnosis and management of people with ILD. Information on the specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/interstitial-lung-disease-adults-service-specification/

NHS England is also supporting systems to improve outcomes for people with a range of respiratory conditions, for example through enabling access to pulmonary rehabilitation through the publication of commissioning standards together with the provision of funding. It has also extended the scope of the National Respiratory Audit Programme’s pulmonary rehabilitation audit so that all patients who participate in pulmonary rehabilitation are captured in the audit, irrespective of their condition. Along with providing a more complete picture of participation, the decision to extend was made to recognise and reinforce the value of pulmonary rehabilitation to all who are eligible with chronic respiratory conditions other than chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including interstitial lung disease.