To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether nebulisers are available on prescription for patients with chronic lung disease.[107170]

We have no plans to make nebulisers available on prescription. It has been a long-standing policy that when the national health service supplies items of equipment, such as nebulisers, it would be most appropriate for them to be provided to patients on loan from primary care trusts and NHS trusts. We think that it is most appropriate for them to remain as NHS property to monitor their usage and ensure that NHS resources are used most effectively.