Move to local control has led to poorer care for neurological patients

Local control of neurological care has allowed standards to fall in contrast to successful national targets on cancer and stroke, according to MPs.

The parliamentary public accounts committee has criticised poor coordination of care for the estimated two million people in the UK who have a neurological condition and the variation in quality of care around the country.

The committee’s report on services for people with neurological conditions says efforts to improve services in recent years have made some difference, but have not worked as well as similar efforts to improve cancer and stroke care.

In 2005, the government published its National Service Framework for long term conditions, containing 11 quality indicators, designed to improve …