Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total bed capacity of the United Kingdom's spinal injury units; and how that figure compares to the current level of acute and long-term readmissions.

In England, the current capacity recommendation for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients as set out in NHS England’s specialised SCI service specification is a minimum of 20 beds at each of the eight specialised SCI centres. NHS England is responsible for commissioning SCI services and for reviewing capacity of SCI services in England.

NHS England has advised that over the next year the SCI Clinical Reference Group is due to undertake a demand and capacity review of SCI services in England. There are no routinely available figures about acute and long-term readmissions to these units.