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) awareness, (b) diagnosis and (c) treatment for, pulmonary hypertension.

NHS England commissions specialist services for both adults and children to diagnose and treat pulmonary arterial hypertension. Care is provided through a small number of specialised centres and shared care arrangements with other centres.

High-cost drug treatments are delivering improvements in outcomes for this group of patients, as evidenced by the National Pulmonary Hypertension Audit. This audit is funded by NHS England, with further information available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/clinical-audits-and-registries/national-pulmonary-hypertension-audit

Clinical guidelines and pathways exist for the investigation of breathlessness, to support the recognition and diagnosis of this rare condition.