Policy paper

England Rare Diseases Action Plan 2023

The second action plan setting out how the Department of Health and Social Care and delivery partners will implement the UK Rare Diseases Framework in England.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

The UK government and devolved administrations published the UK Rare Diseases Framework in January 2021, setting out a shared vision for addressing health inequalities and improving the lives of people living with rare diseases across the UK.

The framework outlined 4 key national priorities:

  • helping patients get a final diagnosis faster
  • increasing awareness among healthcare professionals
  • better co-ordination of care
  • improving access to specialist care, treatment and drugs

To turn this vision into action, each of the 4 UK nations has committed to developing nation-specific action plans detailing how these priorities will be addressed.

This is England’s second Rare Diseases Action Plan, following our commitment to publish action plans annually during the lifetime of the UK Rare Diseases Framework. This action plan has been developed in close collaboration with delivery partners across the health system and the rare disease community. It reports on progress against the 16 actions set out in the first Rare Diseases Action Plan and announces 13 new specific, measurable actions for the next year under the framework’s priority areas and underpinning themes.

Published 28 February 2023
Last updated 10 July 2023 + show all updates
  1. Updated to link to the now published report on the Breaking Down Barriers focus group on health equity.

  2. First published.