Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration his Department has given to the potential role of a respiratory Modern Service Framework in reducing winter pressures on the NHS by improving outcomes for long-term respiratory conditions and short-term respiratory illnesses such as flu.

Modern service frameworks will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and will then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery. Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia.

The Government will consider other long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks, including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future modern service frameworks will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. There has not, therefore, been a specific assessment made in relation to winter pressures.

NHS England, working with the Department, the UK Health Security Agency, and other partners, took action to reduce the impact of respiratory conditions on the National Health Service during the winter of 2025/26. Further details of the actions taken to reduce demand on acute services during winter is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/