The autumn/winter edition of your members’ magazine packed with useful features, clinical updates, educational updates, respiratory news and opinion.

This summary infographic provides an overview of the new MART therapy which has been licensed for children of 6 - 11 years old.

World COPD Day, this year taking place on the 19th November, is an annual global initiative run by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). World COPD Day aims to raise awareness and present new knowledge and novel therapeutic strategies for COPD worldwide.

We are pleased to launch a new series of resources on health inequalities, which bring you everything you need to know about caring for people with respiratory disease who are impacted by health inequalities and severe mental illness.

In this PCRS Health Inequalities podcast Leslie Borrill and Rebecca Jacobs discuss suicide and suicide prevention in long-term respiratory conditions. They cover:

In this PCRS Health Inequalities podcast Noreen Grant, Lisa Cummings and Aaron Foulds (PCRS patient reference group representative) talk about the impact of respiratory disease on mental health. They cover:

In this PCRS Health Inequalities podcast Katherine Hickman (PCRS executive chair, Kaniksha Aggarwal, Martin Sutcliffe and Sue Wheatcroft discuss respiratory disease and mental health in the context of the UK prison setting. They touch on:

The new BTS/NICE/SIGN guideline, Asthma: Diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management (NG245) has placed fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) early in the diagnostic algorithm, which has caused some concern.

PCRS are proud to have supported NHS England London’s #AskAboutAsthma campaign over the years.

Respiratory disease and mental health are interlinked in many ways, with respiratory conditions often impacting mental wellbeing and vice versa. NHS England states that people with severe and enduring mental illness are at greater risk of poor physical health and reduced life expect

People living in the most deprived communities across the country are set to benefit from new neighbourhood health services as the government takes the first steps in the rollout today (Wednesday 9th July), making care more convenient and reducing health inequalities.

Point-of-care testing of C-reactive protein (CRP) for the acute assessment of worsening symptoms in people known to have COPD can safely reduce the use of antibiotics and could help improve the diagnostic approach towards someone presenting in such a crisis.

With the summer holidays fast approaching, many will be planning trips abroad and booking flights for warm and sunny destinations. However, flying can be a very challenging way to travel for many people with respiratory disease.

Corinne Beirne, Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Amanda Roberts, from PCRS’s patient reference group, discuss what constitutes a good asthma review from a patient’s perspective.