Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support people with lung conditions.

In collaboration with a number of partners, the National Health Service has developed a package for local systems containing the information and support required to help increase the number of people receiving an early and accurate diagnosis for respiratory disease.

Following a significant drop in the volume of respiratory specific diagnostic tests, such as spirometry, during the pandemic, NHS England has managed to bring these numbers to above pre-pandemic levels.

The Government is committed to a preventative approach to the public’s health and is determined to improve air quality for everyone and address inequalities by working across Government to tackle these issues, including by supporting the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to deliver their comprehensive and ambitious Clean Air Strategy, which will include a series of interventions to reduce emissions so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.

In alignment with the Neighbourhood Health Service model, NHS England is leading on the development of an approach for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management, to support proactive identification and management of rising risk patients in winter, thereby reducing demand on primary and secondary care by identifying at risk patients, optimizing care, and strengthened support. Core20PLUS5 identifies COPD as one of the five clinical areas of focus requiring accelerated improvement to help tackle healthcare inequalities, and plans to improve this area by increasing vaccination uptake, namely for COVID-19, flu, and pneumovax, in people with COPD, and by avoiding exacerbations that could lead to emergency treatment in hospital and inpatient care.