Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with NHS England on including arthritis in NHS health screening programmes.

In the United Kingdom, national screening programmes are introduced based on the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), which can be alerted to any new published peer reviewed evidence which suggests the case for a new screening programme via its annual call, which will open in July 2024.

More information about the UK NSC’s annual call is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-annual-call-submitting-a-screening-proposal/uk-nsc-annual-call-how-to-submit-a-proposal