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 help improve the (a) research in, (b) diagnosis of and (c) the treatment of anaemia.

The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds clinical, public health, and social care research and works in partnership with the National Health Service, charities, universities, local government, other research funders, patients, and the public.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including anaemia, through its research programmes. From 2019/20 to 2023/24, the NIHR funded £10.7 million of research into anaemia.

The NIHR also provides research support by funding facilities, expertise, training, and recruitment support, which includes approximately 176 studies from 2019/20 to 2023/24 on anaemia research supported across NIHR infrastructure.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced a clinical knowledge summary on anaemia which provides guidance on testing and treatment of all types of anaemia. It was last updated in September 2023. The clinical knowledge summary states that, in all people, serum ferritin levels of less than 30 micrograms per litre confirms a diagnosis of iron deficiency. NICE guidelines are not mandatory and, whilst clinicians and health and care commissioners are expected to take them into account, it is important for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan to be in place that address the specific needs of the individual.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has authorised a number of intravenous iron products for use by patients with anaemia in the United Kingdom, including iron dextran, iron sucrose, ferric carboxymaltose, and ferric derisomaltose.