Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what financial support his Department is providing to NHS trusts to help clear backlogs of asthma assessments.

Published data is not available on the number patients in England awaiting spirometry asthma assessments. NHS England is investing in additional diagnostic capacity for respiratory pathways as part of the £2.3 billion 2021 spending review capital investment in diagnostics.

Community Diagnostic Centres are being established to deliver additional, digitally connected, diagnostic capacity in England, enabling an accurate and fast diagnosis on a range of clinical pathways including people with chronic respiratory disease.