Written question asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour) on Monday, 1 February 2016, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 February 2016. It was answered by Lord Prior of Brampton (Conservative) on Wednesday, 10 February 2016 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Prosthetics

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the decision by NHS England to refuse funding for micro-processor knees is consistent with its Five Year Forward View, which states that the NHS needs to adapt to take advantage of the opportunities that science and technology offer patients and carers.

Answer: NHS England has not refused to fund micro-processor knees. A revised policy proposal for the routine commissioning of microprocessor controlled knees was considered by NHS England’s expert Clinical Priorities Advisory Group which recommended its adoption for routine commissioning. The proposal was then considered by NHS England’s Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group at its meeting on 9 December 2015 where it was agreed that NHS England would support this service development as a possible call on its resources. However given the potential scale of investment and the need to consider its priority relative to other treatments which would also have a possible call on the specialised commissioning resources it was decided that the policy should go forward for consideration as part of NHS England's next annual prioritisation round in June 2016.

Secondary information