Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2020 to Question for 67749 on Pain: Health Services, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to the online version of the Escape-pain programme.

In the NHS Long Term Plan, published 7 January 2019, NHS England set out the expansion of online access to support for people with musculoskeletal problems. This included programmes such as a digital version of the well-established face-to-face ESCAPE-pain group programme, which enables self-management and coping with arthritic pain through exercise.

The online version of the ESCAPE-pain programme is currently freely available in both a web-based form, which can be accessed by a computer or a variety of mobile devices, and an application available on Android smartphones. The ESCAPE-pain website is available at the following link:

www.escape-pain.org/

Outcome data on user engagement the ESCAPE-Pain programme is expected in August, which will enable an assessment of usage.