Dr George Godfrey
Head of Medical – Respiratory and Immunology, AstraZeneca UK
Respiratory health is a significant driver of NHS admissions. Dr George Godfrey shares strategies to help reduce exacerbations, improve patient quality of life and relieve the burden on the NHS this winter.
Dr George Godfrey, Head of Medical for Respiratory and Immunology at AstraZeneca UK, talks about how their NHS partnerships help to identify and better manage people with respiratory conditions, relieving pressures on healthcare systems and supporting NHS winter resilience.
Burden of asthma and COPD on patients and the NHS
With winter just around the corner, the NHS is bracing again for a seasonal surge in respiratory illness. Asthma + Lung UK reports that breathing issues are the leading cause of emergency hospital admissions, accounting for a staggering 1.7 million admissions last year 1 and that people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) who are living in severe material deprivation have a higher number of exacerbations, or situations when symptoms suddenly worsen.2 During the colder months of December, January and February, hospital admissions rise significantly, as conditions such as COPD and asthma are exacerbated by cold weather, viral infections and other seasonal triggers.
“Respiratory disease is a major driver of winter pressures,” explains Dr Godfrey. “Every winter we hear the same stories — ambulances queuing up outside hospitals, elective procedures postponed and wards stretched to capacity — and yet respiratory health still isn’t being prioritised as strongly as it should be.”
Asthma and COPD place an enormous strain on both patients and the NHS. Care is often reactive – focused on crises – rather than proactive and preventative, meaning people living with these conditions are not receiving the care they need to stay well.
These conditions also have broader impacts on the workforce and the economy. People with asthma and COPD may need to take time off work due to respiratory illness and may be receiving benefits to support living costs due to the impact these conditions can have on daily living. For the NHS, this means reduced workforce capacity, particularly during high-demand periods. Improving respiratory care could therefore generate far-reaching benefits, helping to keep people well and in work and strengthening NHS resilience.
Systemic barriers holding back respiratory care
Despite decades of innovation, the UK continues to face some of the poorest respiratory outcomes in Western Europe.3 Barriers such as poor access to diagnosis and care, variation in access to treatment, and slow implementation of new clinical guidelines mean a proportion of people are missing out on the treatment they need to control their disease and live well.
Take COPD, for example. Since 2024, the level of basic COPD care in the UK has decreased, from 9.4% in 2024 to 8.8% this year.4
Peter, 74, has received these basics of care, and has been able to remain as active, independent and healthy as possible since being diagnosed with COPD in his 40s. His story, detailed in the Speak Up for COPD coalition’s report5, highlights the importance of proactive patient management. Expanding access to diagnostics, conducting annual inhaler reviews and assessing risk of both lung and heart events are just a few simple measures that can be used to improve care for people with COPD.
When it comes to asthma, an overreliance on the use of short-acting beta-agonists (SABA), more commonly known as the ‘blue inhaler’, remains a persistent challenge. SABA-only relievers may be effective at relieving symptoms, but don’t address underlying inflammation that underpins asthma, with over-reliance on their use linked to poor asthma control and an increased risk of mortality in some cases.6 While these risks have already been outlined in a safety warning by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published in April, shifting attitudes and behaviours is challenging.6 “Changing entrenched behaviours is hard, and it takes coordinated education and support to shift practice,” says Dr Godfrey.
AstraZeneca, a leading global pharmaceutical company, is working alongside the NHS to ensure that the need to act now to improve lung health is seen as urgent and that focus is placed on national and local changes to improve care and access to treatment. Looking at the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan, the need to transform asthma care is acknowledged, but as Dr Godfrey notes, “For conditions with such a significant burden on people, the NHS, the planet and the economy, we now need to turbocharge efforts to deliver on this ambition. Everything the Government can do to improve respiratory care and outcomes will make a real difference.”
Accelerating guideline-directed medical therapy
A winter-ready NHS means delivering the right care at the right time: proactive review for people living with asthma and COPD, especially after a recent emergency or hospital admission, ensuring people with these conditions are on the right treatment, in line with national and local guidelines
“The recently updated BTS/NICE/SIGN asthma guideline sees a major shift from prescribing SABA-only inhalers to combination inhalers as standard, which both relieve symptoms and prevent underlying inflammation,” explains Dr Godfrey. “There are also a number of biologics available for people with severe asthma, however, access remains uneven due to variations in local service provision.”
Through ongoing partnership with the NHS, AstraZeneca is supporting the adoption of these guidelines to transform asthma care. This includes scaling a quality improvement programme in asthma 7,8, which addresses overreliance on SABA-only inhalers, and the roll-out of a tool which helps primary care teams identify people with severe asthma who need specialist review and could be eligible for biologic treatment. An evaluation of the programme showed that, the use of this tool combined with other operational changes, revealed positive results, showing a significant reduction in both asthma-related exacerbations and hospital admissions.9 These initiatives are generating evidence on the impact for patients, the NHS and the planet. With the Government and NHS seeking to deliver new models of care and improve access to innovative medicines, national guidelines in place and the tools available to improve care, respiratory can be the national examplar for 10-Year Health Plan implementation. Dr Godfrey notes, “We’re incredibly motivated to support the NHS to drive this change, but for these improvements to be sustainable, the NHS and local systems need to own these changes and embed them at scale.”
Winter resilience and beyond: better control, fewer admissions
Ahead of this year’s winter surge, the NHS has been asked to identify patients at high risk of admission and to put in place plans to support their urgent care needs at home or in the community, whenever possible.
A joint working project between AstraZeneca and Hartlepool called LOGIC, which was nominated for a Nursing Times Award, demonstrates the importance of this approach. Of the 252 COPD patients reviewed over the project duration, there was a 60% improvement in the number of people with a COPD care plan, and 71% of people reviewed saw an improvement in their quality of life and symptoms.10
A proactive, risk-based approach to reviews, medicine optimisation and discharge planning enables early intervention and a shift from reactive care to prevention, improving outcomes and reducing hospital admissions. “We have the evidence, tools and treatments to change clinical practice”, says Dr Godfrey.
Winter resilience starts with respiratory care: identify risk, optimise treatment and cut avoidable admissions so people with asthma and COPD can breathe better and pressure on the NHS is eased
GB-72691 DOP: 15th of December 2025
1. Asthma + Lung UK (2024). Breathing issues are the leading cause of all emergency admissions.
[2] Asthma + Lung UK (2022). Delayed diagnosis and unequal care.
[3] Asthma + Lung UK (2022). Lung conditions kill more people in the UK than anywhere in Western Europe.
[4] Asthma + Lung UK (2025). Life with a lung condition 2025.
[5] Speak Up for COPD (2024). The state of COPD in the UK.
[6] MHRA (2025). Patients with asthma reminded of the increased risk of severe asthma attacks from overusing blue inhalers.
[7] AstraZeneca (2023). Executive summary of The SENTINEL Project.
[8] AstraZeneca (2025). Executive summary outputs of SENTINEL Plus SABA reduction project.
[9] Damery, S et al. (2024). Mixed-methods evaluation of an enhanced asthma biologics clinical pathway in the West Midlands UK. Npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine.
10. AstraZeneca UK (2024). Breathing New Life. .
