The British Thoracic Society (BTS) was formed in 1982 by the amalgamation of the British Thoracic Association and the Thoracic Society.   It is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.

Membership has grown over the last few years to 2,681 (July 2008). Our members include doctors,  nurses, respiratory physiotherapists, scientists and other professionals with an interest in respiratory disease. All join because they share an interest in our main charitable objective, which is to improve the care of people with respiratory and associated disorders. We do this by:-

• promoting optimum standards of care (visit the Clinical Information section of the website to learn more about our treatment Guidelines and related audit tools)
• promoting and advancing knowledge about the causes, prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases (we run two large conferences each year and a range of short courses - more details of these can be found in the Education Hub)
• promoting and disseminating research (the Society's Winter Meeting is the main showcase for this activity, and the Research section of the website contains more information about our other activities).

The Society is committed to working in partnership with a range of organisations to achieve our objectives.  These include  other respiratory health professional groups, organisations representing patients and carers, medical and surgical Royal Colleges, and other specialist Societies.  Visitors to the site will find links to the websites of many of these groups, and please look also at the information about new projects such as IMPRESS - a joint initiative with the General Practice Airways Group which aims to Improve and Integrate Respiratory Services.