Health Awareness
Respiratory
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Could a green inhaler be the right choice for you?
Finding the right inhaler for each patient is crucial, so is considering the environmental impact. The right choice of inhaler for a patient is critical for successful treatment. The decision, in discussion with healthcare professionals, can also consider health economics, environmental impact, inhaler type and medication. Inhalers are fundamental elements of the treatment for conditions...
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Is home monitoring the future for severe asthma?
Validated technology allows patients to monitor respiratory health from home. Around 200,000 people in the UK have severe asthma, a serious and often debilitating form of asthma that’s not easy to manage, as patients are often unresponsive to conventional treatments. Coughing, wheezing and breathlessness can affect everyday life such as work, study and relationships. People...
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More use of spacers could improve outcomes
Inhaler technique is more important now than ever, but when good technique cannot be confirmed. Could more use of spacers improve outcomes? Controlling chronic respiratory diseases has never been more important. The COVID-19 pandemic and the winter cold and flu season is here. Therefore, it is even more vital that people with respiratory diseases such...
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Do no harm – safer and better treatment options for severe asthma
Four in five people in England who might have severe asthma1 are not being referred to specialists for the treatments that could transform – and even save – their life. Research by Asthma UK shows that 200,000 people have severe asthma2, a type of asthma that does not respond to conventional inhaled steroid treatments People...
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Adapting to delivering respiratory care during a pandemic
Since the start of the pandemic the NHS has had to adapt at lightning speed, this has meant fast innovation in the way we deliver care to replace face to face consultations. Before COVID-19 there was a steady increase in the use of virtual and telephone consultations in healthcare. This has rapidly evolved further since...
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The role of nutrition in people with COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung condition where the airways have become narrow, making it hard to get air in and out of the lungs. People with COPD are at particular risk of undernutrition (malnutrition). This can develop over several years or might occur following a flare up of symptoms. Factors impacting dietary...
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Prevent the crash: the importance of detecting lung cancer early
In a world where tiredness comes as standard, weight loss is welcomed and a cough is COVID-19, how do we diagnose lung cancer earlier? With a disease as serious as lung cancer, you would expect symptoms to match the severity. You would expect a clear or obvious warning light – gasping for breath, a violent...
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Cutting the toll of COPD with a new way forward
New Patient Charter outlines action needed to tackle COPD, the Cinderella disease that claims 30,000 lives a year.1 COPD is the fifth leading cause of death in the UK, causing 30,000 deaths every year.1 More needs to be done to increase awareness. Why is reform needed? “In the 20 years since I became interested in...
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Clean air is essential for respiratory health
Focusing on reducing the environmental impact of respiratory healthcare is a priority we cannot ignore. In 2020, the Primary Care Respiratory Society (PCRS) launched the Greener Respiratory Healthcare Initiative. Healthcare accounts for 4% of carbon emissions in England and minimising the environmental impact of healthcare in general is a key goal for the NHS1. Environmental...
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A COPD diagnosis is life changing
There are 1.2 million people living with diagnosed COPD in the UK, with many more estimated to be waiting for a diagnosis. We need to address this, now. If you ask the average person in the street what COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is, or how life limiting it is, they won’t have a clue....
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Identifying those at risk of COPD
By studying the very early stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), researchers across the UK are hoping to be able to identify those at risk of developing the condition, which affects three million people in the UK. The British Lung Foundation Early COPD Cohort is a group of young adult smokers between the ages...
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How toolkits and technology can benefit the patient journey
Finding solutions to support patients, doctors and nurses through COVID-19 and beyond. By exploring innovative healthcare technology to help identify, prioritise and prepare patients for review, GSK want to support the NHS to address the backlog of respiratory patients caused by the challenges of the pandemic. Identifying the challenges and opportunities During the COVID-19 pandemic,...
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“Cancer is just part of my life now”
Doreen shares her story of her lung cancer diagnosis and why she is taking it in her stride. Five years ago, I went to see my GP about a cough I’d been living with for over 12 months. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong, but I was referred to a chest specialist anyway –...
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AI tool could pick out patients at highest risk of relapse
Most advanced cancers undergo genetic changes that enable them to resist drugs meant to kill them. Scientists like Dr Yinyin Yuan are working to better understand why this happens in lung cancer. New research, which aims to harness the principles of evolution to stop cancer in its tracks, has transformed our understanding of how lung...
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It is time we prioritise the lung health of our children and this must begin at the school gates
COVID-19 has reinforced the importance of having healthy, resilient lungs, so why are we taking unnecessary risks with children’s health by exposing them to dangerously high levels of air pollution on the school run? The invisible killer Air pollution is a major public health risk, and the biggest environmental threat to human health. Invisible to...
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Airway clearance therapy may improve COPD patient quality of life
Quality of life is hugely important to any COPD patient. Research into Airway Clearance Therapy suggests that mucus clearance is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of its benefits to patients. Some 1.2 million people in the UK[1] live with chronic pulmonary obstruction disease (COPD). The disease can have a drastic effect on...
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Improving air quality around schools to protect children
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for school streets. Closing streets to traffic at school times and reallocating space to walking and cycling can help maintain physical distance amongst parents and children and improve air quality. A reduction in air pollution is critical given the emerging evidence that poor air quality, already particularly harmful...
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Breathlessness – when to seek help
Public Health England advice to “Stay Alert” during the current coronavirus pandemic has heightened the nation’s vigilance for symptoms of respiratory disease. Together with fever and cough, breathlessness is one of the most feared symptoms today as the number of deaths from SARS-CoV-2 infection continues to increase worldwide. Breathlessness, known medically as ‘dyspnoea’, is a...
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Improve your quality of life with cleaner indoor air
In the UK, we spend on average 90% of our time indoors, where air pollution is typically 2-5x worse than outdoors. After you read this article, the first thing you should do is open a window. The main reason air quality is worse indoors is poor ventilation. So, while air pollution is at its lowest...
