Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure an equitable uptake of new treatments for (a) spinal muscular atrophy and (b) other rare diseases once recommended by NICE.
NHS England has undertaken an assessment of uptake of drugs for patients with spinal muscular atrophy and some other rare diseases. The assessment concluded that uptake equalled or exceeded the estimated number of patients in the original National Institute for Health and Care Excellence assessment and that access was equitable regardless of where patients live.