Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take further steps to encourage NHS Hospital Trusts to adopt the GIRFT pathway for Cauda Equina Syndrome.

We are aware of the challenges faced by those living with rare diseases such as Cauda Equina Syndrome and remain committed to making improvements across the healthcare system through implementation of the UK Rare Diseases Framework. The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is a national NHS England programme designed to improve the treatment and care of patients through in-depth review of services, benchmarking, and presenting a data-driven evidence base to support change. GIRFT’s work to raise awareness and support implementation of the NHS England pathway for patients with suspected Cauda Equina Syndrome is ongoing, and we have been encouraged to see signs of progress in many trusts across England since the pathway was shared in February 2023. Where trusts report barriers to implementation, for example, in the staffing of magnetic resonance imaging scanners 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, we are working to support them by sharing best practice and recommendations to help ensure the pathway can be fully adhered to. We are undertaking a programme of stakeholder engagement events at the national, regional, system and site level to promote the benefits of the pathway.