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 (a) diagnosis of and (b) medical support for people with achalasia in Leeds Central and Headingley constituency.

The Government is committed to supporting those with achalasia. Achalasia can affect both adults and children. The paediatric aspect is commissioned through specialised commissioning but if it is missed in childhood, any adults who present with it are usually managed within locally commissioned, secondary care gastroenterology, endoscopy, upper gastrointestinal surgical services. Diagnosis usually requires oesophageal manometry, which most large secondary care gastro/endoscopy units can provide.

Management of the condition is usually endoscopic or surgical with a myotomy, splitting the muscle in the lower oesophageal sphincter valve. The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the handful of centres in the United Kingdom offering endoscopic myotomy. Leeds also has an established surgical service offering keyhole myotomy and anti-reflux surgery and these procedures can sometimes be done with robotic assistance. They also have specialist dietetic support for patients requiring nutritional support leading up to surgery.

In addition, the 10-Year Health Plan sets out the Government’s vision for the Neighbourhood Health Service. The Neighbourhood Health Framework has now been published, and will enable a more joined-up approach that delivers more preventative, local, personalised, and digitally enabled care for everyone, including people living with achalasia. Central to the plans are Neighbourhood Health Centres, which will bring more care closer to where people live. This is supported by the NHS App, which will become a health companion that makes it easier for patients to access the NHS. It will give patients a more seamless experience across their health journey.