Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on proposals for a review of (a) treatment and (b) guidance on best practice for patients with fibromyalgia.

The Department has had no such discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

NICE published its guideline on primary and secondary chronic pain in over 16 years old in April 2021. The guideline makes recommendations on pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments of chronic primary pain, including fibromyalgia, which is classified as a type of chronic primary pain. The full recommendations are available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng193/resources/chronic-pain-primary-and-secondary-in-over-16s-assessment-of-all-chronic-pain-and-management-of-chronic-primary-pain-pdf-66142080468421.

NICE has no plans to update the guidance at this time, however their surveillance programme ensures that its published guidelines are up to date by exploring if there is any new evidence to contradict, reinforce or clarify the recommendations it makes.