Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help support people with (a) Musculoskeletal conditions and (b) back pain conditions in Old Bexley and Sidcup constituency; and if he will make it his policy to utilise chiropractic capacity to support treatment within the NHS.

To support people with musculoskeletal (MSK) and back pain conditions, we are working to deliver the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. GIRFT teams are working with health system leaders to further reduce MSK community waiting times, which are the highest of all community waits, and to improve data, metrics, and referral pathways to wider support services.

In the Old Bexley and Sidcup constituency, those seeking support for MSK conditions and back pain conditions can access services such as the Bexley MSK Service, which provides specialist care for adults in the Bexley area experiencing a wide range of MSK conditions and which offers personalised treatment plans tailored to individual needs. Launched in Summer 2025, the getUBetter app, commissioned by the NHS South East London Integrated Care Board, is also accessible to Bexley residents aged 16 years old or over and those registered with a Bexley general practice. It offers information on local services, including self-referral options for leisure activities supporting health and wellbeing.

NHS England does not nationally commission chiropractic care as it is a complementary and alternative medicine. Integrated care boards can make independent decisions on which health professionals they employ and may commission a limited amount of such treatment.