Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to diagnose migraines.

To reduce the time taken to diagnose conditions such as migraines, NHS England has published a delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. As part of this plan, the National Health Service will deliver on the commitment of 26,000 more direct patient care staff and 50 million more appointments in general practice by March 2024.

NHS England’s national programme of neurology service improvement is led by the National Neuro Advisory Group (NNAG), which convenes public bodies, expert bodies, clinicians, academics, and patient voice organisations. NNAG is not a decision-making body, but it does make formal recommendations to NHS England about how neurology services should be commissioned and improved.

One of the bodies that advises the NNAG is the NHS Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme for neurology. In September 2021, GIRFT published its National Specialty Report for Neurology, which describes the delivery of neurology services in England and makes recommendations for their improvement. The report is available at the following link:

https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/medical_specialties/neurology/