Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to ensure that hospitals in all NHS health trusts allocate dedicated funding for respiratory testing for (1) diagnostic, and (2) treatment, purposes.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have invested £2 million to fund the establishment of respiratory clinical networks. These networks support the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan’s objectives and provide clinical leadership to respiratory services. As part of commissioned respiratory services, National Health Service hospital trusts are funded to provide respiratory testing for diagnostic and treatment purposes.

Additional capacity has been created through 71 community diagnostic centres in 2021/22. These centres will provide an estimated 750,000 further tests per year in a number of specialties, including respiratory health.