Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure the routine commissioning of cough assist machines in the West Midlands.

Since 1 April 2013, NHS England has been responsible for commissioning specialised neurological services, which includes services for patients with neuromuscular disorders, such as muscular dystrophy. NHS England has published a neurosciences specification, which sets out what providers must have in place to offer high quality care and treatment for patients.

The neurosciences service specification describes when patients should be referred to specialist respiratory services and the circumstances in which cough assist devices should be considered. It is available from the NHS England website at this link:

http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf.

A copy of this document has also been attached.

The equipment and respiratory support of cough assist is the commissioning responsibility of clinical commissioning groups, delivered through local specialist respiratory services, according to any local clinical commissioning policy they may have in place.