Spinal Injuries: Health Services
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether future NHS planning guidance will require ICBs to provide specialist rehabilitation and care for patients with spinal cord injury.
Answered by Karin Smyth
Spinal cord injury services in England are commissioned against the national service specification, which is published by NHS England, and is available at the following link:
The specification sets out the mandated standards all commissioned providers are required to meet for patients. The specification provides detailed information on the pathway of care for spinal cord injury patients, including coordination with interdependent services.
All providers are required to submit outcome data to the specialised services quality dashboard, with data available at the following link:
This data enables the monitoring of quality of care, including clinical outcomes, equitability of access and structure, and process measures. The data is linked to the national spinal cord injury registry, which provides audit data.
The specific content of future National Health Service planning guidance will be determined and published in due course, but progress has been made on improving spinal cord injury services following the 2016 review through, for example, the development of the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for spinal services, which is driving service improvements and better care for patients with spinal cord injuries. GIRFT has worked with NHS trusts to showcase examples of best practice which other services can then learn from.
More recently, in October 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published new guidance on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, which includes rehabilitation for spinal cord injury.
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