Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of specialist nurses for neurological conditions in rural areas.

Workforce planning, including decisions about the number and type of specialist nurses needed locally, is the responsibility of individual employers and their integrated care boards, which are best placed to assess the needs of their populations.

We continue to work with NHS England through programmes like Getting It Right First Time to support improvements in access to specialist care for patients with neurological conditions. We have also set up the United Kingdom‑wide Neuro Forum, which brings together the Department, NHS England, the devolved administrations, and the health services and Neurological Alliances of all four nations, to share best practice and address system-wide challenges, including neurology workforce challenges.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.