Lung conditions and Northern Ireland
If there’s one thing we’ve learned this year, it’s that lung health should be on the political agenda. Joseph Carter, our Head of Devolved Nations, introduces the All Party Group on Lung Health and why we need people in Northern Ireland to get involved.
Since the Northern Ireland Executive was re-established in January this year, we’ve worked closely with all political parties to call for a comprehensive lung health strategy.
COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of people with lung conditions and the fragility of the support they can access. It has also shown that health and social care services can use technology to engage with people in the comfort of their own homes.
We think it’s now time to push for an ambitious respiratory health strategy for Northern Ireland.
What’s the problem?
Lung conditions have a lower profile – even though every day, nearly twice as many people are diagnosed with respiratory conditions than with non-respiratory cancers. And lung conditions are costing over £250 million a year in Northern Ireland alone.
Recent statistics show little improvement:
Between 2008 and 2018 respiratory deaths increased from 2,096 a year to 2,201 (2018 was the second worst year, with only 2015 higher at 2,236 deaths).
Deaths from asthma rose from 30 in 2008 to 37 in 2018.
In 2019, Northern Ireland had the worst smoking figures in the UK, with 15.6% of people regularly smoking (compared to 13.9% in England, 15.4% in Scotland and 15.5% in Wales).
The new All Party group on Lung Health
In September, a group of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) joined Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation to set up a new All Party Group on Lung Health. The group aims to raise awareness of lung conditions and make the case for a new lung health strategy.
The first public meeting was held in October. We were delighted that all sorts of people came along, including people with lung conditions, healthcare professionals and six MLAs.
The meeting focused on pulmonary rehabilitation and self-management. Physiotherapists and the Charted Society of Physiotherapy raised their concerns about delivering long-COVID rehab. They worry that the extra support they want to give to people recovering from COVID-19 could have a negative impact on their existing services – unless they receive additional funding for staff and facilities.
Next steps
The next All Party Group on Lung Health meeting will be on 19 January 2021. The focus will be on preventing lung conditions – specifically looking at air pollution and tobacco control. If you’d like to come along to this meeting or share your experience of pulmonary rehabilitation in Northern Ireland, please email NorthernIreland@auk-blf.org.uk.
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