Neurology blueprint drops down agenda

Progress on the Department of Health’s plan to improve services for people with neurological conditions has stalled as other policies take precedence and NHS cuts bite.

Campaigners say the long-term (neurological) conditions national service framework has been given a low priority by NHS and social care managers and has been overshadowed by the health and social care white paper, with its long-term conditions focus.

The framework, launched in March 2005, has 11 “quality requirements” for services for people with conditions such as epilepsy.

But Maggie Alexander, chief executive of the Brain and Spine Foundation, said: “I can’t say that the NSF has made any difference.”

David Pink, chief executive of the Long Term Medical Conditions Alliance, said the white paper had overtaken it in importance despite their differences. “The white paper is aspirational. The NSF is a detailed guidance document,” he said.