Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when NHS England plans to publish the updated renal service specification; and what steps they are taking to ensure the specification supports increased access to home dialysis therapies and improved patient choice.

The specification is being worked on by NHS England in line with its national service specification methods process. Stakeholder testing was recently undertaken. The timing of full publication has yet to be decided upon as the feedback from stakeholders is being considered, alongside any changes required. NHS England will set out the expected date of publication as soon as this is available.

NHS England is increasing access to home-based therapies through the Renal Services Transformation Toolkit (2023), which aims for at least 20% of patients to be treated at home. The specification will support the 20% ambition.