Chair's statement on services for people with neurological conditions: progress review

10 July 2015

A statement from Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts:

Many neurological conditions affect quality of life and cause lifelong disability, so people with these conditions often need a wide range of services that cross boundaries between health and social care.
Now, more than three years since the Public Accounts Committee set out how services could be improved, there is little evidence of integrated health and social care services for people with neurological conditions, with too few examples of joint commissioning of neurological services.
The Committee recommended all people with neurological conditions have access to the right services, but more than half of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have actually made no assessment of the number of people with a neurological condition living in their area nor assessed how many used their services. It is alarming to discover that one in five people (21%) with neurological conditions say they are not receiving the support they need from local services to help them manage their long-term condition.
There has been a lot of talk from government about giving more power to patients, but NHS England has not created incentives for CCGs to encourage local services to provide personalised care. A survey published in January 2015 reported that just one in five people (20%) with a long-term neurological condition had been offered a personalised care plan even though the Department's aim is for everyone with a long-term condition to be offered one by 2015.
This is yet another example of our health and social care system underperforming for the people who most need it. The Department and NHS England have questions to answer about their poor progress in achieving better services and outcomes for people with neurological conditions.

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