Redefining respiratory care: reflections from Westminster
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In contrast to the rainy, damp morning outside, there was a strong sense of shared purpose inside the Palace of Westminster on 27 October 2026. Aleks Gawlik-Lipinski, Kate Gillett, Clare Guyon and I joined clinicians, patient organisations, NHS leaders and parliamentarians to discuss the future of respiratory care.
The event was hosted by Liz Twist MP and co-organised with GSK titled “Redefining Respiratory: Delivering a National Strategy for Respiratory Care explored how respiratory health could receive greater national priority.
The programme included contributions from Sarah Sleet, Chief Executive of Asthma + Lung UK, and Professor Thomas Brown from Portsmouth University. A central theme was the need for clear national direction to address variation in respiratory care, improve earlier diagnosis and support equitable access to treatment.
Discussions explored how respiratory care could deliver the three shifts set out in the government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. This included discussions about the role of neighbourhood care models and digital approaches across services and pathways.
GSK’s UK General Manager, Uday Bose, highlighted the gap between medicines approval and patient access. He described how effective collaboration can support timely approval, while challenges remain in ensuring treatments reach the patients who need them. This reinforced the importance of coordinated services to translate advances in treatment into everyday clinical care.
For respiratory nurses, these priorities offer opportunities to shape community services, strengthen supported self-management and prevention, and ensure that digital developments respond to patients’ needs without creating additional barriers to care.
My main reflection was that national ambition must translate into practical improvements for people living with respiratory disease. Achieving this will require a united respiratory voice, drawing on lessons from national approaches in cardiovascular care. Respiratory nurses bring valuable insight into the challenges patients face across care settings, and our contribution will be essential in shaping and delivering these changes.
Christine Mwasuku, ARNS Research and Education sub committee member