Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the evidential basis for the Interim Clinical Commissioning Urgent Policy Statement in August 2026 regarding Pectus surgery for pectus excavatum deformities; and whether this new guidance has changed the eligibility criteria for surgery on the NHS.

NHS England is still waiting for results of the National Institute for Health and Care Research-funded RESTORE trial, which is evaluating the clinical and cost-effectiveness of surgery for severe pectus excavatum. The results will inform future consideration of NHS England’s substantive commissioning policy.

The updates to the existing Interim clinical commissioning urgent policy statement clarified the criteria to reflect the evidential and clinical basis of the original approval. The update justified intervention for a very small cohort of patients with severe pectus excavatum and potentially life-threatening physiological complications of the greatest severity, pending further evidence.