The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)
This Government want to ensure that every person with multiple sclerosis receives high-quality healthcare.
Today, during MS Awareness Week (28 April to 4 May), I would like to update the House on the work under way to support service improvement and ensure better care for patients with MS in England.
The Government have set out an ambitious programme of reform for the NHS. The health mission has set the clear goals of achieving an NHS that is there when people need it and a fairer Britain where everyone lives well for longer. Our plan for change will rebuild the health service and deliver better care for everyone.
NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time neurology programme supports improvements to MS care by identifying and addressing variations in care, sharing best practices, and promoting efficiency through a clinically-led approach, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes and reduced costs.
NHS England’s neuroscience transformation programme is also improving MS care by focusing on faster diagnoses, better co-ordinated care, and improved access to specialist services.
While the transformation programme provides the overarching framework for improving neurology care, products such as the RightCare progressive neurological conditions toolkit offer practical guidance and support to improve MS care by promoting a joined-up, high-quality approach, ensuring that patients have access to specialist care and resources, and facilitating better co-ordination of care across different services.
NHS England is also updating its specialised neurology service specification, which includes MS. Service specifications define the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care.
The Government have also recently established the Neuro Forum, a UK-wide Government-led forum focusing on services and support for people affected by neurological conditions. It is the first of its kind and brings together the Department, NHS England, devolved Governments and health services, and neurological alliances across the UK to address gaps in treatment and care, and to drive improvements in neurological health across the four UK nations.
In March, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published technology appraisal guidance on cladribine (Mavenclad), expanding its recommended use to include people with relapsing-remitting MS who have active disease; previously only recommended for highly active RRMS, NICE has now expanded its availability to a much wider group of patients, with the NHS becoming the first healthcare system in Europe to roll it out widely to patients with active disease. It is estimated that about 2,000 patients could be offered the treatment over the first three years.
NICE’S approval of ublituximab (Briumvi) for active relapsing-remitting MS, in December 2024, has further expanded the range of drugs available to people in the NHS, ensuring that more people can find the treatment that is best for them.
Research is advancing our understanding of MS. The Department delivers research into neurological conditions via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. In 2023-24, the NIHR spent £72.9 million on research into neurological conditions across research projects, programmes and infrastructure.
Through the NHS 10-year health plan, we will aim to improve care for people with long-term conditions such as MS.
The plan will set out bold ambitions to provide more care in the community, make greater use of technology and build a more preventive health service. This will include how the NHS will provide high-quality care for people living with long-term conditions such as MS.
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