British Thoracic Society publishes a Position Statement on Health Inequalities in Respiratory

Today the British Thoracic Society (BTS) publishes its first Position Statement on Health Inequalities in relation to respiratory healthcare. The purpose of this Position Statement is to outline the Society’s stance on how the impact of health inequalities can be both assessed and reduced in the UK.

The Statement has resulted from the greater understanding of the harmful variability in respiratory health seen widely across the devolved nations. Inequalities in respiratory medicine not only relate to access to healthcare and health outcomes, but for patients also include protected characteristics, language, health literacy, deprivation, rurality, access to technology, cultural differences and medical research provision amongst others. For medical and allied health professionals, inequalities and inequities persist within recruitment, training, and access to resources.

The intended audience for this Statement is all healthcare professionals working in, or interested in respiratory medicine, and those who are involved with planning and commissioning respiratory services. Through the Statement, BTS aims to provide direction and tangible methods to help respiratory colleagues find resources and data that are relevant to their localities. The Society’s own activities to reduce inequalities are also noted, including the implementation of the BTS policy on Inclusion, Diversity and Equality.

BTS is fully committed to engaging in activities and supporting initiatives aimed at reducing health inequalities. BTS is a founding member of the Inequalities in Health Alliance (IHA), a group of over 80 different organisations, convened by the Royal College of Physicians, united by a common will and commitment to eradicate health inequalities in the UK. BTS will continue to support the view that a wide-ranging approach is needed that looks more holistically at ill health, reflecting on the increasingly complex needs of communities.

Dr Paul Walker, BTS Chair, comments,

“We have recognised for many decades that health inequality directly impacts access, uptake and delivery of healthcare but we have made little progress in tackling this problem. The BTS Position Statement is the foundation we will use to integrate health inequality into all aspects of the work of the Society. Through Respiratory Futures we will complement this by expanding our resource and guidance for healthcare professionals and managers to use in their work space.”

The Position Statement on Health Inequalities is available here.

Further resources on health inequalities in respiratory care, including multi-lingual resources and resources on treating tobacco dependence are available on Respiratory Futures.