Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will require NHS England to use its powers under section 14Z61 of the National Health Service Act 2006 to ensure that integrated care boards allow the prescription of liothyronine where clinically appropriate.

Decisions about prescribing liothyronine are made by the responsible clinician. NHS England guidance, which aligns with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on the assessment and management of thyroid disease, is clear that liothyronine should not be routinely prescribed in primary care. Where clinically appropriate, liothyronine should only be initiated by a National Health Service consultant endocrinologist, and only where no clinically appropriate alternative treatment is available.

Integrated care boards are responsible for local commissioning arrangements and for supporting the application of national guidance, but it is for clinicians, working with their patients, to decide on the most appropriate treatment in line with that guidance.