IMPROVED education and better relationships between patients and medical staff are needed to improve care for patients with respiratory illnesses, claim health professionals.

A conference on Respiratory Care was held at Durham County Cricket Club in Chester-le-Street focused on reducing the impact of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

The event, which brought together expert speakers from across the region, was organised by the Academic Health Science Network North East and North Cumbria.

The network is funding projects across the region to look at improving treatment through better education for patients and professionals, and spokesperson Sue Hart said that after the first year of project work, it was on its way to achieving its aims.

She added: “The health service is under pressure to deal with the complexities of an ageing population on the finite resources of the healthcare system.

“It’s clear from all the projects on the Respiratory Care Programme that management of COPD needs an overhaul in order to give patients control and to build better therapeutic relationships that can benefit both patient and clinician.

“Our projects are demonstrating that patients want to engage and a focused approach can therefore improve the burden on health and social care.

“Many improvements being made are already seeing a reduction in the number of preventable hospital admissions for patients, as well as improved confidence among practice nurses; a reduction in the rates of smoking among COPD patients; and an increase in alternative treatment including referrals to pulmonary rehabilitation services.”