Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help young people with cerebral palsy.

We want a society where every person, including those with a long-term condition such as cerebral palsy, receives high-quality, compassionate continuity of care, with their families and carers also supported. We will change the National Health Service so that it becomes not just a sickness service, but able to prevent ill health in the first place. This will help us be better prepared for the change in the nature of disease and allow our services to focus more on the management of chronic, long-term conditions like cerebral palsy.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance on care and support for children and young people with cerebral palsy, to support healthcare professionals and commissioners. The guidance recommends service providers develop clear pathways that allow patients with cerebral palsy access to multi-disciplinary teams, specialist neurology services, and regular reviews of their clinical and functional needs.  This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng62

NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme aims to improve care for people with neurological conditions in England, including those with cerebral palsy, by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across the country.  The GIRFT National Speciality Report provided the opportunity to share successful initiatives between trusts, to improve patient services nationally.

In addition, the Neurology Transformation Programme has developed a model of integrated care for neurology services to support integrated care boards (ICBs) to deliver the right service, at the right time, for all neurology patients, including providing care closer to home.  A toolkit is being developed to support ICBs to understand and implement this new model.

The majority of services for people with cerebral palsy are commissioned locally by ICBs, which are best placed to make decisions according to local need. Nevertheless, at a national level, the Government is working closely with NHS England to continue to improve services for people with neurological conditions, including those with cerebral palsy.