Functional Neurological Disorder: Health Services
(asked on 14th October 2025) - View Source
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 ensure equitable access England to (a) diagnosis, (b) treatment and (c) specialist rehabilitation services for patients with Functional Neurological Disorder.
The majority of services for people with neurological conditions, including functional neurological disorder (FND), are commissioned locally. Integrated care board (ICB) commissioners are best placed to configure services for their populations and are supported by clinical guidance.
More widely, NHS England’s Neuroscience Transformation Programme is supporting ICBs to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, which includes providing care closer to home.
NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and RightCare Toolkits, including the Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, the Headache and Migraine Toolkit, and the Epilepsy Toolkit, aim to improve care for patients with neurological conditions by reducing variation.
On 15 October 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published new guidance, titled Rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders including acquired brain injury. The guideline covers rehabilitation in all settings for children, young people, and adults with a chronic neurological disorder, neurological impairment, or disabling neurological symptoms resulting from acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve disorder, progressive neurological disease, or FND. Further information is available at the following link: