Department of Health and Social Care written question – answered at on 19 January 2026.
Helen Morgan
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Health and Social Care)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help (a) increase capacity for and (b) reduce inequalities in access to respiratory diagnosis.
Ashley Dalton
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are increasing capacity and access to respiratory diagnostic tests such as spirometry and fractional exhaled nitric oxide, and will continue to do so as more sites come online. For example, the first five months of 2025/26 saw an increase in CDC spirometry testing of approximately 2,000 tests per month more than in the previous year.
In addition, 101 CDCs across the country now offer out-of-hours services 12 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning patients across the country can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
