Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what alternative options are available to a clinician who considers a second stem cell transplant to be the best course of treatment for their patient, as a consequence of NHS England's decision routinely not to fund such transplants for patients whose disease relapses.

Decisions related to the commissioning of National Health Service treatments in England are made by NHS England using a published process that has recently been the subject of a public consultation. This decision is kept under review and will be formally considered by NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group later this year. While second transplants for patients with relapsed disease are not currently routinely commissioned, clinicians can apply for funding for a stem cell transplant where the decision about an individual patient is that a transplant may be an appropriate treatment option to pursue and that patient is assessed by NHS England to be clinically exceptional or have a clinically critical need.