A cross-party group of MPs has set out a range of tough measures to tackle tobacco dependency including raising the minimum age of sale for tobacco to prevent youngsters taking up the habit.

Regular e-cigarette use among young people remains low in Britain and has plateaued among adults, says a new report from Public Health England.

Registration is now open for the Primary Care Respiratory Academy 2019 Clinical, Commissioning and Pharmacy events.

It’s No Smoking Day 2019 on Wednesday March 13, the national health awareness day that encourages smokers to quit.

The UK has the highest asthma death rate for young people aged 10-24, compared with other wealthy countries. This is the finding of an international comparison of young people’s health conducted by the Nuffield Trust and the Association for Young People’s Health.

There is a danger that the debate around e-cigarettes will drown out the work needed to tackle tobacco dependency, warns a leading respiratory physician in a BMJ editorial.

PCRS has launched an online giving page where people can donate money to support our work to influence respiratory healthcare policy and campaign for improvements in respiratory care.

PCRS Executive member Dr Vince Mak, Consultant Physician in Respiratory Integrated Care at Imperial College Healthcare Trust, has been appointed Clinical Director of the London Respiratory Strategic Clinical Network (RSCN).

E-cigarettes are almost twice as effective as nicotine replacement treatments (NRT) at helping smokers to quit finds a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine

The new five year GP contract has introduced some important changes to the respiratory QOF indicators, effective from April 2019 in England.

PCRS believe that it is the responsibility of every healthcare professional to treat tobacco dependency systematically and effectively. PCRS advocate that people wishing to quit using tobacco should be offered the most effective but also the least harmful methods first to support a quit attempt.

The NHS has been slow to respond to rapid advances in molecular diagnostics which with new treatments for lung cancer are leading to improvements in survival for patients.

Dr Roy Robertson is a Professor of Addiction Medicine at the Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. He has spent much of his career on the frontline of Edinburgh’s heroin problem working as a GP on the Muirhouse estate.

In the third in our series of snapshot case vignettes aimed at illustrating self-management opportunities Dr Iain Small brings you the case of Gerald. Three healthcare professionals have provided their feedback on the case. How would you respond?

Are you interested in or concerned about respiratory care and services in your area? Would you like to improve the quality of care for patients with respiratory disease and feel you need some help to make that case to your practice manager or local commissioner?