Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to develop a national strategy on progressive neurological conditions.

On 24 January 2023, the Government announced that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy covering six conditions including dementia. We published our initial report Major Conditions Strategy: Case for change and our strategic framework on the 14 August 2023. Following publication of the Strategic Framework, we will continue to develop the strategy, informed by the Call for Evidence and ongoing engagement. Our intention is to publish the Major Conditions Strategy in early 2024.

On neurological conditions more widely, the NHS England Neurology Transformation Programme has developed, in partnership with stakeholders, a new whole pathway neurology model to support Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including providing care closer to home. A toolkit is being developed to support ICBs to understand and implement this new model. It will provide them with resources and information they will need to drive transformation in their neurology services, as they take on delegated responsibility for commissioning specialised neurology services from April 2024 onwards.