I sympathise greatly with all those living with motor neurone disease (MND) or supporting a loved one. We must improve care for people with neurological conditions – including those with MND.

I welcome the various initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with MND. This includes the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology and the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit. NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, which seeks to support local NHS organisations to deliver the right service at the right time for all neurology patients.

We need more research into MND, and I welcome that Government funders continue to invest in this area. This includes £12.5 million to support the best discovery science in MND at the UK Dementia Research Institute and £6 million for the Motor Neurone Disease Translational Accelerator, which aims to speed up the development of treatments for the disease.

Ministers have set up a UK-wide neuro-forum, which brings together the UK Government, NHS England, the devolved administrations and health services, and Neurological Alliances of all four nations. The forum, which met for the first time in March, is an opportunity to share learning from across the system and discuss challenges, best practice examples and potential solutions for improving care for people with neurological conditions.

More widely, I am delighted the Government has stuck to its word and delivered the first step it promised of two million more appointments a year to cut waiting lists, achieving this target seven months early. It has now exceeded this goal, delivering more than four million additional appointments since July last year. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialties, including neurology.

I also support the action being taken to improve adult social care, including an £86 million boost to the Disabled Facilities Grant so that thousands more people can live independently in their own homes. The carer’s allowance weekly earnings limit has also increased to £196, the largest increase in the limit since the allowance was first introduced. Longer term, I am pleased Ministers have launched an independent commission into adult social care as part of the first steps towards delivering a national care service.

Best wishes

Rt Hon Hilary Benn
MP for Leeds South
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland