Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve awareness of achalasia among general practitioners and relevant hospital specialists.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of people living with rare diseases through the UK Rare Diseases Framework. One of the priorities of the framework is improving awareness of all rare diseases, including Achalasia, among healthcare professionals. In England, we published the fifth action plan updating on the progress of this priority of the UK Rare Diseases Framework on 27 February 2026.

The NHS National Genomics Education Programme provides information to health care professionals through the online resource GeNotes. Since launching in 2022, GeNotes has expanded to 12 specialties, and more than 150 rare diseases. New diseases continue to be added.

Information for families on Achalasia is available on the National Health Service website, at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/achalasia/