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 need for specific NICE guidance for the diagnosis and treatment of functional neurological disorder.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has guidance in place to support clinicians in the diagnosis of functional neurological disorder. The ‘Suspected neurological conditions: recognition and referral’’ guideline published in 2019 covers the initial assessment of symptoms and signs that might indicate a neurological condition. It helps healthcare professionals to identify people more quickly who should be offered referral for specialist investigation and includes recommendations for people who have previously been diagnosed with functional neurological disorder. The guideline is available at the following link:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng127

In January 2021, NICE also published a quality standard on suspected neurological conditions which states that adults diagnosed with a functional neurological disorder should be supported to manage symptoms that are a part of the disorder in non-specialist care. The quality standard is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs198