Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with muscle-wasting conditions living in Kent, Surrey and Sussex have access to a neuromuscular care advisor close to their home.

NHS England has published a service specification for neurological care, which sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. NHS England advises that, until summer 2016, a neuromuscular care advisor was in post at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the main neurosciences centre for the south east, and provided a co-ordinator service to London and the south east of England.

Following a review by the Trust, funding for the post has now been agreed and the remit and job description are currently being finalised. A post to cover Surrey and Sussex, linked to Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, is being discussed by the relevant clinical commissioning groups.