Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support patients with hidradenitis suppurativa.

Hidradenitis suppurative (HS) affects around 90,000 people in England and can usually be managed with treatments including antibiotics, antiseptic washes and immunosuppressive treatments such as steroids or ciclosporin.

For those patients with the most serious forms of HS who cannot be managed through routine access treatments provided through primary or secondary care, a referral to a specialised dermatology service may be appropriate. NHS England commissions services for people with rare and complex skin conditions and has set out what providers must have in place in order to offer specialist dermatology care. These services may provide more intensive therapies with a involvement of a range of health and care professionals, subject to that patient’s needs. More information can be found at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a12-spec-dermatology.pdf

The Department does not hold data on spending on individual dermatological conditions. However, the latest NHS Programme Budgeting data, which is for 2012-13, shows that the total spend on dermatology (excluding burns) was £1.98 billion.