Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has plans to improve the quality of Lyme disease tests.

Nicola Blackwood

The National Health Service and Public Health England (PHE) use well established validated diagnostic tests for Lyme disease that are highly reproducible between laboratories. International External Quality Assurance schemes are in place to ensure consistency between different tests centres.

However, Lyme disease is a complex infection; we recognise that there are real challenges in diagnosis and we are further strengthening the evidence base. Commercial manufacturers and international academic groups have research programmes into improved tests. PHE continuously reviews new Lyme serology tests and will validate and implement new tests if appropriate.