Petition Fund Awareness and Training Regarding Functional Neurological Disorders (FND)

Government responded

This response was given on 3 April 2025

The Government is committed to improving health outcomes for people with long-term conditions, including functional neurological disorders. Funding provision is subject to Spending Review decisions.

We want a society where every person, including those with a long-term condition such as functional neurological disorders (FND), their families and carers receive high-quality, compassionate continuity of care. We will change the NHS so that it becomes not just a sickness service, but able to prevent ill health in the first place. This will help us be better prepared for the change in the nature of disease and allow our services to focus more on the early detection and management of chronic, long-term conditions such as FND.

The Government recognises that there is a lack of awareness and understanding of FND. In order to increase understanding of FND among GPs, the Royal College of General Practitioners has produced a learning course, which includes a module on recognising and explaining FND, which can be found at: https://www.rcgp.org.uk/learning-resources/courses-and-events/elearning-courses.

At a national level, there are a number of 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 Neurology Transformation Programme which aim to improve care for people by reducing variation and delivering care more equitably across England.

In 2023, the National Neurosciences Advisory Group developed a clinical pathway for FND, which can be found at: https://www.nnag.org.uk/optimal-clinical-pathway-adults-fnd-functional-neurological-disorder.

NHS England is in the process of updating the Specialised Neurology service specification. This will include FND, which is not included in the current published version. Service specifications are important in clearly defining the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) also has guidance in place to support clinicians in the diagnosis of suspected neurological conditions, including FND. The NICE guidance, “Suspected neurological conditions: recognition and referral”, updated in October 2023, includes guidance on FND, which outlines symptoms that are often common in FND, such as recurrent dizziness, limb or facial weakness, numbness and tingling, and difficulties with memory and concentration. The guidance also outlines that the severity of the symptoms of FND often fluctuates and increases during times of stress. The guidance is available here: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng127.

NICE is also currently developing a guideline on rehabilitation for chronic neurological disorders and acquired brain injury, more on which is available here: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ng10181. FND will be included in the final guideline, which NICE expects to publish in September 2025.

We have also set up a UK-wide Neuro Forum, facilitating formal, biannual meetings across the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, devolved governments and health services, and Neurological Alliances of all four UK nations. The new forum, which met for the first time on 10 March 2025, brings key stakeholders together to share learnings across the system, discuss important neurology services transformation and workforce challenges, as well as best practice examples and potential solutions that will add both to the existing programmes of work and wider health plans.

Department of Health and Social Care