Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of commissioning an expert clinical review into the use of the Zamar Protocol for patients with severe treatment-resistant bipolar spectrum disorders who fall outside existing NICE guidance; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a pathway for the assessment and potential evaluation of such treatments within the NHS.

The Department has no current plans to commission an expert clinical review into the use of the Zamar Protocol for patients with severe treatment-resistant bipolar spectrum disorders.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has not considered the Zamar Protocol and its existing guideline on the assessment and management of bipolar disorder does not include recommendations on this intervention. NICE keeps its guidance under review through its established prioritisation process, which considers emerging evidence and the needs of the health and care system.