Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of patients who are eligible for biologic treatment for severe asthma who are not currently accessing it.

The NHS England and NHS Improvement Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) on Improving Access to Biologic Therapy estimates that approximately 200,000 or 5% of patients with asthma have severe asthma. Of these patients, the AAC estimates that between 50,000 to 100,000 may be eligible for biologic therapy, with approximately 11,000 patients receiving this treatment. The AAC aims to improve the identification of these patients in primary and secondary care settings, to allow referrals to specialist severe asthma centres to determine their suitability for biologic treatment.

No specific estimate of the number of patients awaiting an appointment at a severe asthma centre has been made as this information is not collected in the format requested. No specific assessment has been made of the effectiveness of home administration of biologics for severe asthma. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s COVID-19 rapid guideline on severe asthma promoted the use of home administration for biologic treatments to maintain access and reduce risks to patients of COVID-19 exposure. While we are ensuring that patients who are eligible for this treatment are able to access it, there are no plans to extend the eligibility criteria.