Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

EDM number 997 in 2004-05, proposed by Derek Foster on 23/03/2005.

That this House welcomes the continued efforts of primary care trusts to prevent the need for patients suffering from chronic pulmonary disease (COPD) to be admitted to hospital as a result of their condition; notes that up to three million people suffer from this debilitating and life-threatening condition in the UK; further notes that avoiding hospitalisation can improve the quality and length of life for these patients and that there are major benefits to the NHS as a whole, reducing the burden on hospitals, freeing beds for use by other patients and reducing waiting times; congratulates those primary care trusts that are actively improving and providing excellent treatment for COPD patients, but notes significant variation in the quality of care from one trust to another; calls for pulmonary rehabilitation to be made available more consistently in all primary care trusts; and regrets that only 1.7 per cent. of patients currently have access to such pulmonary rehabilitation.

This motion has been signed by a total of 33 MPs.