Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with rheumatoid arthritis are diagnosed and receive treatment within the first three months of referral from primary care.

This information is not collected. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline Rheumatoid arthritis: The management of rheumatoid arthritis in adults, published in 2009, emphasises the need for early diagnosis, with urgent referral to a specialist rheumatologist on suspicion of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

NICE also published a quality standard on RA in June 2013. Quality standards are concise sets of prioritised statements designed to drive measurable quality improvements within a particular area of health or care. The standard makes seven statements which are indicators of good care. This includes a statement on referral that sets out that people with suspected RA are referred to a rheumatology service within three working days of presentation. It also includes a statement on assessment which recommends that people with suspected RA are assessed in a rheumatology service within three weeks of referral.

Ministers at the Department have had no recent discussions with NHS England on improving the speed of diagnosis for people with inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions.