To ask the Minister of Health when an in-reach service from Great Britain will be provided in Northern Ireland for facial palsy patients.

The Facial Palsy Planning Group was set up to develop a facial palsy pathway for patients from presentation to treatment which include the ongoing management of the condition life long, if required.

The Ulster Hospital, with agreement from the SPPG, arranged for a medical trainee’s fellowship in the Regional Specialist Facial Palsy Service in Newcastle, GB. On completion of this fellowship, the trainee then successfully secured a Plastic Surgery consultant’s post in Northern Ireland with an interest in facial palsy. However, due to the small numbers of patients (less than 5 per year) requiring surgical intervention it has always been recognised that to ensure the service was safe and sustainable in Northern Ireland and to enable the maintenance and transference of skills a network arrangement would be required for facial palsy services with a GB Centre. This approach is used in a number of tertiary services in Northern Ireland. The Regional Plastics Surgery Service in South Eastern and Belfast Trusts have already established links into specialist services in GB which aids relationships when developing in-reach services and fellowship training.

I understand that a draft pathway is currently being developed for local facial palsy services and this pathway is currently with members of the Facial Palsy Regional Planning Group for feedback.

It is the plan that the Facial Palsy Regional Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) will be further developed. However, it is important to note that this will be subject to securing the relevant funding within wider service pressures and priorities.

In the meantime my officials will continue to work with our Trust colleagues in ENT, ophthalmology, neurology and plastic surgery to move the pathway development forward without available funding for the service model.