Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to review the way that steroid-based treatments are prescribed to patients with dermatological conditions to prevent topical steroid withdrawal reactions.

We have no plans to do so. Decisions on prescribing are a matter for the general practitioner or prescriber with clinical responsibility for that aspect of a patient’s care. Prescribing is informed by a range of factors, including any national or local prescribing guidelines but ultimately the decision on the appropriate treatment is made by the prescriber, using their own clinical judgement. Clinicians should also provide information to patients on the medicines they prescribe, including the benefits, risks and any potential side effects.

On 15 September 2021, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency published information on how to reduce the risk of inappropriate use of steroids with information for both healthcare professionals and patients, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update/topical-corticosteroids-information-on-the-risk-of-topical-steroid-withdrawal-reactions#background