Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the funding of MRI treatment of essential tremor following the recommendation by NICE for its use.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published interventional procedure (IP) guidance on the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-guided focused ultrasound as a treatment for essential tremor in June 2018. A copy of Unilateral MRI-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for treatment-resistant essential tremor is attached.

NICE concluded that the evidence on the safety of unilateral MRI-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for treatment-resistant essential tremor raises no major safety concerns. However, current evidence on its efficacy is limited in quantity. Therefore, this procedure should not be used unless there are special arrangements for clinical governance, consent, and audit or research.

IP guidance looks at procedures used for diagnosis or treatment. It considers if they are safe and work well enough for wider use in the National Health Service. Whilst compliance with IP guidance is not mandatory, it is considered best clinical practice for the NHS to take it into account.