Latest News

Senior PCRS member to lead London respiratory clinical network

12/02/2019

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...

E-cigarettes more effective than NRT reports landmark study

08/02/2019

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 multi...

GP contract introduces key respiratory QOF changes

08/02/2019

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

Early diagnosis key for accessing new lung cancer treatments

31/01/2019

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. This is the warning of a...

Thousands may be misdiagnosed with COPD national audit reveals

28/01/2019

A greater focus is urgently needed on improving diagnosis of COPD, say researchers, who have found that a quarter of patients on GP registers may have been misdiagnosed. The study of data from the...

Sensational headlines prompt wake up call for asthma improvement

25/01/2019

Millennials are getting the worst asthma care in the UK, reported the news media about Asthma UK’s annual survey for 2018. The report, The Reality of Asthma Care in the UK, said that two thirds of...

Long Term Plan offers a much needed focus on respiratory disease

24/01/2019

The following piece is an extended version of a blog from our Chair, Noel Baxter, written at the request of NHS England for their website, seeking the views of PCRS on the respiratory elements of the...

PCRS publishes guide to diagnosing and managing tobacco dependency

23/01/2019

PCRS has published a pragmatic guide to diagnosing and managing tobacco dependency. It comes as the NHS Long Term Plan sets out specific action to reduce the smoking rate including supporting...

Prof Hilary Pinnock elected to influential ERS role

15/01/2019

PCRS wishes to congratulate leading primary care respiratory researcher, Professor Hilary Pinnock, on her election as Head of Assembly 1 - General Pneumology of the European Respiratory...

COPD ‘high users’ of A&E most likely to be admitted to hospital

15/01/2019

COPD and bronchiectasis are the most common conditions resulting in high intensity users (HIUs) of A&E being admitted to hospital, reveals an analysis of NHS hospital data. The report by the...