New £10m partnership to provide 'faster and better' respiratory care in the community

A new £10 million partnership will provide ‘faster, better and more personalised care’ closer to home for patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The Respiratory Transformation Partnership (RTP) brings together NHS England, the Office for Life Sciences, 15 health innovation networks, and four pharmaceutical companies – AstraZeneca, Chiesi, GSK, and Sanofi.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it will support community and primary care teams to overhaul care for the one-in-five people affected by respiratory disease during their lifetimes.

Related Article: MenB vaccination programme to be rolled out in pharmacies

It will focus on preventing unnecessary hospital admissions and easing pressure on hospitals, particularly in winter, the department added.

The DHSC said the partnership will use data and digital tools to:

• Identify patients who would benefit from more targeted treatments;
• Expand access to biologic medicines;
• Ensure community and primary care teams can support patients closer to home.

Respiratory disease is the third leading cause of death in the UK, contributing to more than 700,000 hospital admissions and around six million inpatient bed days each year, the DHSC added.

It hopes that better managed respiratory conditions will help people stay in work and support the government’s wider ambition to reduce health-relate economic inactivity.

Health innovation minister Dr Zubir Ahmed said: ‘Too many people with asthma and lung disease end up rushed to hospital when, with the right care and support, that admission could have been avoided entirely.

Related Article: Advice for newly qualified prescribing pharmacists published by GPhC

‘For far too long these patients have been let down because of a broken system.

‘This £10 million partnership is a concrete example of what our reform agenda looks like in practice - shifting care out of hospitals and into communities, using data to reach patients who have been missed, and working hand in hand with industry to get the best treatments to the people who need them most.’

The programme is chaired by Jonathan Fuld, national clinical director for respiratory disease, and is being co-ordinated by Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley on behalf of the Health Innovation Network.

It is supported by a coalition of clinical, academic and patient organisations, including Asthma + Lung UK, the Primary Care Respiratory Society, the British Thoracic Society, the National Respiratory Audit Programme, the Association of Respiratory Nurses and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Related Article: Wegovy weight loss pill first to get approval in the UK

Sarah Sleet, chief executive of Asthma + Lung UK, said: ‘The UK has the worst death rate in western Europe for lung conditions and the impact falls most heavily on people living in the most deprived areas.

‘Through the partnership, our combined resources can be harnessed to improve lung health and reduce inequality. There is now real momentum behind improving the lives of people with respiratory conditions, paving the way for a national approach to improving lung health across the country.’