The Coronavirus pandemic is creating a particularly challenging environment for primary, community and integrated teams to deliver care to patients with respiratory disease.

The Coronavirus pandemic is creating a particularly challenging environment for primary, community and integrated teams to deliver care to patients with respiratory disease.

A new, targeted system search for people with asthma who are considered higher risk patient groups in relation to COVID-19 has been developed.

  Update: 30th March 2020

The Coronavirus pandemic has created a challenging environment for the delivery of care to patients with respiratory disease.

Basic quality respiratory care is improving but there are key areas where practices and teams could transform care, according to the latest report from the National Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Audit Programme (NACAP).

As the number of coronavirus cases rises in the UK PCRS is advising primary care teams to ensure that at-risk respiratory patients are aware of everything they can do to protect themselves.

A new QOF indicator, which requires a diagnosis of COPD to have results of spirometry consistent with airways obstruction, has been approved by NICE. PCRS has campaigned for this change in practice for many years.

PCRS is highlighting the need for NICE to review the introduction of point of care test C-reactive protein (CRP) - guided assessments for people presenting with COPD crises, following the emergence of new evidence.

On the 6 February, NHS England issued an update to the GP contract agreement 2020/21 to 2023–23/24. The update includes important improvements to the asthma and COPD domains.

New guidance from PCRS addresses the latest concerns about the safety of e-cigarettes and advises healthcare professionals how to support an estimated 3.2 million patients who use them to stop inhaling burned tobacco.

NICE has overturned a 2017 recommendation to quadruple the dose of inhaled corticosteroids for children when their asthma control deteriorates.

The PCRS Conference Report 2019 is now online.  It contains a summary of the key clinical, service development and plenary sessions of the three day event held in Telford in September 2019.

Tracey Lonergan PCRS Policy Coordinator, reports on the highlights from the PCRS Respiratory Conference 2019 Service Development Stream.

Presented by Darush Attar-Zadeh and Katherine Hickman, this session challenged delegates on their prescribing habits and attention to patient behaviours, and provided tangible tools and techniques for immediate adoption into practice to improve asthma outcomes.