Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of support available to people with spinal cord injury in a) North Shropshire and b) England.

People with spinal cord injuries in North Shropshire receive specialist care through the Midland Centre for Spinal Injuries (MCSI) at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, one of 11 nationally designated spinal injury centres providing lifelong multidisciplinary support in the United Kingdom. MCSI provides multidisciplinary rehabilitation and lifelong follow up care for spinal cord injury patients.

Nationally, spinal cord injury services form part of prescribed specialised services, with NHS England maintaining national service standards, specifications, and clinical policies. From 2025, elements of specialised commissioning were delegated to integrated care boards to support more integrated pathways, while overall accountability remains with NHS England.

In March 2025, NHS England published the Spinal Services Clinical Network Specification, which establishes expectations for spinal clinical networks to standardise pathways and reduce variation, with the aim of improving access to care for patients.

The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for spinal services is also driving service improvements and better care for patients with spinal cord injuries. GIRFT has worked with National Health Service trusts to showcase examples of best practice which other services can then learn from, thereby aiming to reduce regional variation in the quality of care patients with spinal cord injuries receive.