Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve education for health professionals on screening, diagnosis and effective individual treatment for Vitamin B12 deficiency; and whether his Department has plans to include serum B12 in full blood count screening.

The diagnosis and treatment for B12 deficiencies is well established and reported in the British Committee for Standards in Haematology (BCSH) guidance document, ‘Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of Cobalamin and Folate disorders’. The guidance was last updated in May 2014 and can be found at the following link:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjh.12959/epdf

The BCSH provides up to date advice to both clinical and laboratory haematologists on the diagnosis and treatment of haematological disease by the production of evidence-based guidelines. The Committee operates independently of Department and NHS England and produces evidence based guidelines for both clinical and laboratory haematologists on the diagnosis and treatment of haematological disease, drawing on the advice of expert consultants and clinical scientists practicing in the United Kingdom. It would be for the BCSH, not the Department, to consider whether any adjustments to current best practice, were needed.

A full blood count is not intended as a diagnosis tool for specific health conditions. The test assesses a number of different components in the blood, including red blood cell count, haemoglobin levels and platelet levels and is designed to help a clinician assess the overall health of the patient as part of the overall clinical picture. However, the test often gives important clues to specific conditions and this can help doctors to reach a diagnosis, alongside any other tests or investigations the doctor thinks necessary. For example, it can detect anaemia, which is symptom of B12 deficiency.