Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in Woking constituency.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services for their local population, including for multiple sclerosis (MS). The Government expects ICBs, including the Surrey Heartlands ICB, which covers the Woking constituency, to assess the demand for service provision in designing their local services.

There are initiatives to support better care for patients with neurological conditions, such as MS, across England, including in the Woking constituency. These include the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, which aims to improve MS care by supporting the National Health Service to address variations in care and by promoting best practice.

The Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, published by NHS England’s RightCare Programme, supports healthcare systems in improving the care of individuals living with progressive neurological conditions, including MS. It aims to enhance local services and reduce hospital admissions by focusing on preventative care and optimising the delivery of services.

NHS England’s Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP) is a multi-year programme to develop a new model of integrated care for neurology services. The NTP has collaborated with clinicians and patient groups to create specific pathways for MS, aiming to improve the quality and coordination of care.

NHS England is also updating its Specialised Neurology service specification, which includes MS. Service specifications define the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care.

Our 10-Year Health Plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from the hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention. We also plan to publish our refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver a transformed health service over the next decade and to treat patients wherever they live in England, including those with MS, on time again.