Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the care continuity for individuals with Cerebral Palsy with no cognative impairment moving from childrens care pathways to adult support networks.

There are no current plans to make such an assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance on cerebral palsy in under 25 year olds, guidance code NG62, includes recommendations on the transition from children to adult services and stresses the requirement to ensure that an individual's developmental, social, and health needs are addressed when planning and delivering the transition. The guidance also sets out key considerations to be made around transition planning, including: clear pathways involving both the young person's general practitioner and named clinicians in adult services; ensuring sufficient training for the professionals involved in the care; clear communication at each point of transition; and a named worker to support continuity of care.

Further NICE guidance on cerebral palsy in adults, code NG119, recommends that adults with cerebral palsy should be offered an annual review of their clinical and functional needs, as part of ongoing care, carried out by a healthcare professional with expertise in neurodisabilities.

NHS England has worked with key stakeholder organisations, including children and young people, and their families and carers, to develop a framework targeted at integrated care systems to be used as a supportive tool to aid in the commissioning of high-quality services for children and young people with cerebral palsy, including those in the transition period to adult services.

In the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England committed to delivering a service model for zero to 25-year-olds to improve young people’s experiences and health outcomes. To aid implementation of this model, the Children and Young People’s Transformation programme collaborated with key partners to develop national guidance on how the National Health Service can better support young people’s transfer into adolescent and adult services. The guidance is due to be published shortly and will be hosted on the NHS England website. The policy aligns with existing NICE guidelines, code NG43, and outlines the principles and steps of a zero to 25-year-old service model, along with best practice examples from across the country.

The Children and Young People’s Transformation programme is working with the NHS Youth Forum to gather the experiences and ideas of young people on adolescent healthcare. The forum will develop recommendations to inform future policies on healthcare transition, including how to deliver developmentally appropriate and person-centred care.