Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to accelerate provision of (a) therapy services, (b) wheelchairs, (c) orthotics, (d) prosthetics and (e) other equipment for children and young people.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of most children’s therapy services and equipment services in the National Health Service. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for children and young people are specialised services, and are commissioned by NHS England.

NHS England is working to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of NHS wheelchairs, and to support ICBs to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment. This includes co-producing a wheelchair quality framework with key stakeholders and people with lived experience. It is due to be published by the end of 2024/25 and will set out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets.

NHS England will shortly publish a revised service specification, Amputee Rehabilitation and Prosthetics Services for People of All Ages with Limb Loss and Limb Difference. The revised specification ensures greater emphasis on children and young people being seen with an age-appropriate setting, with greater collaboration between the young person’s acute and rehabilitation teams.

In relation to AAC services, NHS England is reviewing the current service specification, and it is anticipated that the revised service specification will be published in spring 2025.