Functional Neurological Disorder: Health Education
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of Functional Neurological Disorder.
Answered by Mrs Sharon Hodgson
In October 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders, including acquired brain injury, with the reference code NG252. This guidance includes functional neurological disorder (FND) within its scope.
NHS England’s updated Specialised Neurology Service Specification, published in August 2025, includes specific reference to FND. It states that all specialised neurology centres must include access to treatment services for FND. Service specifications are important in clearly defining the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care.
There are a number of other national-level initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with neurological conditions, including FND, such as the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the recently completed Neurology Transformation Programme, which aim to improve care for people by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across England.
Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population, which is why, under the Care Act 2014, they are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. In doing so, they should use local population and market data to inform commissioning decisions and encourage a wide range of service provision to ensure that people have a choice of appropriate and high-quality care services in their local area, including for conditions such as FND.
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