Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that surgery to treat pectus excavatum in patients residing in the Tees Valley CCG area can take place in cases where the patient is likely to have clinical and functional benefits from that surgery.

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.