Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to ask the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to recognise chronic urinary tract infections as a distinct illness in its guidelines.

Classifying a condition as a distinct illness is outside the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) remit. The NICE has no plans to develop guidance on chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) at this time, and the topic has not been considered by their prioritisation board. The NICE has produced a clinical guideline on antimicrobial prescribing for recurrent UTIs, which provides recommendations on treatments and self-care for the prevention of recurrent UTIs.