Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made in implementing the recommendations of the Third Report of the Health Select Committee, Session 2000-01, Head Injury: Rehabilitation.

This is a matter for NHS England as the body responsible for commissioning providers of neuro rehabilitation across England.

NHS England’s current specification for neuro rehabilitation takes account of research based evidence which shows that:

- Rehabilitation in specialist settings for people with traumatic brain or spinal cord injury and stroke is effective and provides value for money in terms of reducing length of stay in hospital and reducing the costs of long-term care;

- Early transfer to specialist centres and more intense rehabilitation programmes are cost effective, the latter particularly in the small group of people who have high care costs due to very severe brain injury;

- Clinical and cost-benefits are similar for people with severe behavioural problems following brain injury; and

- Continued co-ordinated multidisciplinary rehabilitation in the community improves long-term outcomes and can help to reduce hospital re-admissions.

This specification is used within contracts held between NHS England and providers of neuro rehabilitation across England. Each region is responsible for monitoring the performance and quality outcomes of the service provided, as described within the specification.