Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2020 to Question 58769, what assessment he has made of the decline to the number of patients accessing biologics therapies for severe asthma in January to March 2020, and what he has to reverse that decline.

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 recommendations were written in collaboration with the NHS England Severe Asthma Collaborative. In writing the guidance, particular attention was paid to streamlining the process of moving patients onto biologic therapies to compensate for any possible barriers that may have occurred as a result of changes to the National Health Service, which were made as part of the necessary response to COVID-19.

Further work is being undertaken by the collaborative to share best practice on providing care to people with severe asthma to ensure on-going provision of high-quality care and to accelerate the initiation of biologics where required.