Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the number of neuromuscular care advisors for people with muscle-wasting conditions.

NHS England is responsible for commissioning specialised neurological services, including some services for patients with neuromuscular disorders. NHS England has published a service specification for neurological care that includes an exemplar service specification for neuromuscular conditions which sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. The service specification for neurological care can be found at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf

NHS providers, working with local area teams, may establish patient access to neuromuscular care advisers if they consider it would benefit service provision and such decisions are a local matter.