Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to support earlier diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis to allow people with that condition to stay in work for longer.

In February 2015, Public Health England, in partnership with the Department, ran a local pilot campaign to raise public awareness of the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms in Nottingham City and Hardwick Clinical Commissioning Group. The aim of the campaign was to support earlier diagnosis and thereby enable treatment to begin earlier to improve the quality of life for people with the condition. The results of the campaign are currently being evaluated.

To help clinicians to identify the symptoms of RA and make prompt referral to specialists the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published Rheumatoid arthritis: The management of rheumatoid arthritis in adults in 2009. The guideline emphasises the need for early diagnosis, with urgent referral to a specialist rheumatologist on suspicion of RA. The guidance is available at:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg79

In addition, NICE has 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, including one on 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.