In this document, first published in the Autumn 2016 issue of Primary Care Respiratory Update and updated in 2018, PCRS-UK provides information on supporting smokers to quit, and how knowing and using the interventions available are the responsibility of all healthcare professionals

In this feature article produced in the Spring 2016 issue of Primary Care Respiratory Update Noel Baxter explores how to help stratify people with asthma providing links to XML files you can access and use in your practice

In the Chair's Perspective feature of this edition of PCRU, Dr Noel Baxter discusses the importance of early and accurate diagnosis for respiratory conditions.

The 24th March is World TB Day which commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis.

PCRS-UK is campaigning for healthcare professionals to view tobacco dependency as a long term relapsing condition that starts in childhood.

An excerpt from the December 2016 issue of Primary Care Respiratory Update which summarises prior PCRS-UK resources on recognising and diagnosing rarer lung conditions in primary care.  The article has been edited by Dr Basil Penny and Dr Iain Small

An excerpt from the December 2016 issue of Primary Care Respiratory Update with Bronwen Thompson in discussion with Monica Fletcher, Chief Executive, Education for Health and PCRS-UK members Dr Stephen Gaduzo and Judith Lawrence on the new certification

Practical input is needed from primary care to ensure that the new data standards will work in practice so please take some time to fill in the survey New national data standards on tobacco use would:-

This short guide from the Primary Care Respiratory Update, Getting the Basics Right" series provides an essential update from Dr Noel Baxter on why a carbon monoxide test is an essential part of a GP and practice nurses's toolkit and valuable motivational tool for smokers

Nearly one in five children in the UK is living in poverty and this deprivation increases the number of hospital admissions for asthma which have continued to rise over the last decade.

It recommends that primary care must work in a much more integrated way with secondary care in order to more effectively manage the needs of this vulnerable group of patients. Audit data collated during 2014 shows that:

In this article published in the Autumn issue of Primary Care Respiratory Update Fran Robinson talks to the PCRS-UK Tobacco Dependency Campaign Group about the role of the healthcare professional in treating tobacco dependency as a long-term relapsing condition that starts in childhood.

In this article first published in Primary Care Respiratory Update (Dec 2016) Bronwen Thompson, Noel Baxter, Carol Stonham and Kevin Gruffydd-Jones discuss the latest results of the COPD audit  managed in primary care in Wales.

Based on the press release issued by NICE, it appears that much of the content of the draft guideline reinforces and is consistent with the BTS/SIGN guideline on asthma management which was  updated in September 2016 (see

A primary care perspective of the changes to the 2016 BTS/SIGN British Asthma Guideline together with details of the summary of diagnostic tests from the guideline