Tens of thousands of patients living with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are set to receive faster, better and more personalised care.

The Respiratory Transformation Partnership (RTP) will bring together NHS England, the Office for Life Sciences, 15 health innovation networks (HINs), and four leading pharmaceutical companies — AstraZeneca, Chiesi, GSK, and Sanofi — in a co-funded programme worth over £10 million.

The partnership will use data and digital tools to identify patients who would benefit from more targeted treatments, expand access to biologic medicines, and ensure community and primary care teams can support patients closer to home.  It is hoped this will reduce the need for emergency admissions and ease pressure on hospitals, particularly during winter.

The programme is chaired by Jonathan Fuld, National Clinical Director for Respiratory Disease, and is being coordinated by Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley (HIOTV) on behalf of the Health Innovation Network.

Respiratory disease is the third leading cause of death in the UK, contributing to more than 700,000 hospital admissions and around six million inpatient bed days each year.

Dr Zubir Ahmed, Health Innovation and Safety Minister, said: "Too many people with asthma and lung disease end up rushed to hospital when, with the right care and support, that admission could have been avoided entirely. For far too long these patients have been let down because of a broken system.

"This government is bringing together the NHS, industry and local health innovation networks to make sure patients get the treatment they need, closer to home, before their condition reaches crisis point.

"This £10 million partnership is a concrete example of what our reform agenda looks like in practice — shifting care out of hospitals and into communities, using data to reach patients who have been missed, and working hand in hand with industry to get the best treatments to the people who need them most."