Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans are in place to ensure access to digital or face-to-face pulmonary rehabilitation services during the covid-19 outbreak.

Through its communication to general practitioners (GPs) and commissioners on 31 July 2020, NHS England and NHS Improvement asked GPs to restore activity to usual levels where clinically appropriate and contact clinically vulnerable patients and those whose care may have been delayed.

Respiratory disease is a national clinical priority in the NHS Long Term Plan and increasing access to pulmonary rehabilitation is part of this. The National Respiratory Programme is part of the wider Cardiovascular Disease and Respiratory programme which was allocated £15 million of the NHS Long Term Plan funding for 2020/21.