Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) increasing funding and (b) implementing a strategy for the treatment of (i) pulmonary fibrosis and (ii) interstitial lung disease.

We have no plans to make a specific assessment. NHS England is responsible for the commissioning of services for interstitial lung disease (ILD) and funds the cost of anti-fibrotic treatments to treat this disease. Access to these treatments has recently been expanded to patients with non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis following the publication of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisal ‘Nintedanib for treating progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases’ in November 2021.

NHS England’s service specification outlines the requirements of a quality service and requires the completion of metrics through the ILD Specialised Services Quality Dashboard. The Specialised Respiratory Clinical Reference Group contains clinical members who advise NHS England on ILD services and includes a member of a pulmonary fibrosis charity as a patient and public voice member. It is expected that commissioning responsibility for these services will be delegated by to integrated commissioning boards with effect from April 2023, while NHS England will retain responsibility for setting national standards.