Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of access to pectus excavatum surgery for patients treated in the Tees Valley CCG area who have met the criteria set out by NHS England in Clinical Commissioning Policy: Surgery for pectus deformity (all ages), published on 22 February 2019.

The NHS England and NHS Improvement online publication Clinical Commissioning Policy relating to surgery for pectus deformity (all ages) sets out the policy position for commissioning surgery for pectus deformity.

NHS England has concluded that there is not sufficient evidence to support the routine commissioning of surgical treatment for pectus deformity.

NHS England is always willing to look at new evidence and, where appropriate, consider revising policy positions. NHS England and NHS Improvement have been working with clinicians and the National Institute for Health Research to identify ways to close the gaps in the current evidence base, for example through formal research.