Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) support research into and (b) promote awareness of (i) Guillain-Barré Syndrome, (ii) Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy and (iii) other related inflammatory neuropathies.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as rare inflammatory neuropathies. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities, collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, which include increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals and improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework and will publish an annual England action plan in 2025.

Pioneering research is an underpinning theme of the UK Rare Diseases Framework, and the Department funds and supports research into rare diseases through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In the last five financial years, multiple studies, including one that is currently live, on rare inflammatory neuropathies have been supported by NIHR infrastructure.

The NHS Genomics Education Programme is working to increase overall awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals. Guillain-Barré syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, and other inflammatory neuropathies are part of the core training curriculum for neurology trainees, for which competency has to be demonstrated before being placed on the specialist register.