The Taskforce for Lung Health is a collaboration of the largest ever group of organisations and individuals who have come together, as a team, to improve lung health.

The Taskforce has over 40 members including patients, carers, healthcare professionals, the voluntary sector and professional associations. An Industries Forum, which works alongside the Taskforce, includes representatives from the pharmaceutical, diagnostics, devices and digital industries. 

The Taskforce’s journey began in 2018, with a clear and ambitious mission to unite the respiratory sector to improve lung health. Read more about our progress here.

Our primary goal was to elevate the importance of lung health within the NHS, and we were proud that respiratory illness featured at the heart of NHS and government strategy in the 2019 NHS Long Term Plan.

We know there is still more to do to ensure that respiratory care gets the focus and resources it needs.

Following phase 1 of the Taskforce between 2018-2023, the Taskforce has relaunched for the 2024-2025 period. Going forward, the Taskforce will focus on high-level policy goals, engaging with the NHS and the Government to push meaningful advancements in lung health policy. 

In the next 2 years, the Taskforce’s work will be centred around three core themes:

• Diagnosis: Working to reduce the time for people with lung conditions to receive an accurate diagnosis and developing a ‘breathlessness pathway’ so that a consistent approach is rolled out across the country.
• Access to treatment: Working to ensure that people with lung conditions can access appropriate treatments. We will focus on increasing the uptake of transformative newly approved treatments, which many eligible patients cannot access, such as biologics for severe asthma.
• Workforce: Working to ensure that in the long-term there is the right medical staff to deliver diagnosis and access to treatment for respiratory patients, working with our members to lobby NHS England and the Government to achieve this.

Industries Forum

Representatives from the pharmaceutical, diagnostics, devices and digital industries make up an Industries Forum that contributes to the work of the Taskforce. The Industries Forum has no editorial control over the activities of the Taskforce.

Some Industries Forum members provide financial backing to the Taskforce. This is not a condition of membership of the Industries Forum and it provides no editorial rights. No Industries Forum members have voting rights on the Taskforce. Read about the Taskforce sponsors.

You can read answers to questions you might have about the Taskforce.

Working groups

To drive forward transformation in the care of people with respiratory disease the Taskforce has three working groups addressing the following priority areas:

Taskforce sponsors

We are grateful to the sponsors of the Taskforce. In 2024-25, these companies are supporting the work of the Taskforce financially but have no editorial rights: 

•        AstraZeneca
•        Amgen
•        Chiesi
•        GSK
•        Janssen
•        MSD
•        Pari Medical
•        Pfizer
•        Sanofi
•        Seqirus
•        Takeda
•        Trudell Medical
•        Verona Pharma