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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the access of severe asthma patients to (a) specialist care in severe asthma centres and (b) biologic therapies.

Specialist respiratory services for severe asthma have continued during the COVID-19 outbreak; in most cases people with severe asthma have been able to receive their biologic medication at home instead of having to attend hospital. Given the pivotal role of respiratory medicine in treating patients with COVID-19, it is likely that the ability of some centres to commence patients on biologics may have been impacted at the peak of the surge.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence COVID-19 rapid guideline on severe asthma provides guidance on starting or continuing on biological treatments, for people with severe asthma during the COVID-19 outbreak. The guideline is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng166