More than 12,000 people around the UK are calling on the Prime Minister to improve services for people with lung disease in a petition which was delivered to Downing Street this afternoon during Breathe Easy Week.
People affected by lung disease, Members of Parliament, and the Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation Dame Helena Shovelton delivered the petition to Downing Street at 2pm.
The petition signatures support the British Lung Foundation’s Charter for better diagnosis, treatment and care of people affected by lung disease. One in seven people are affected by some form of lung condition in the UK and it is our second biggest killer after non-respiratory cancers. The petition delivery group included the widow of someone who recently died of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD currently kills more people than breast, colon or prostate cancer in the UK.
The group who delivered the petition consisted of: (from left to right) Sir Peter Soulsby MP (Leicester South), Elisabeth Mellonie (BLF Supporter whose husband died of COPD), Kelvin Hopkins MP (Luton North), Dame Helena Shovelton, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, Glennys Fountain (BLF Supporter with severe asthma) and BLF Trustee Professor Ruth Endacott.
“Millions of people live with a lung condition in the UK yet treatment and services for them is in vast need of improvement,” says Dame Helena Shovelton. “We want the Government to include a lung test as part of its Health MOT programme and to improve the outlook for people with lung problems by adopting our Charter.”
The petition delivery was followed by a ‘Meet the Patients’ event in the Members Dining Room of the House of Commons. People with lung disease from the British Lung Foundation’s Breathe Easy Support groups met with their constituency MPs to lobby for support for the BLF Charter.
For more information please contact Casey Purkiss on 020 7688 5564 or Katherine Huntly 020 7688 5588
