LUNG DISEASE

That this House welcomes both the publication of the Burden of Lung Disease Report by the British Thoratic Society (BTS) and the National Service Framework on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD); is hopeful that the Framework will improve diagnosis, treatment and care for COPD; is concerned however by the BTS report which showed that the overall burden of respiratory disease costs £6.6 billion; notes that one million hospital admissions were for respiratory disease in 2004-05; further notes that social inequality causes a higher proportion of deaths in respiratory disease than any other disease; and urges the Government to tackle rising mortality and morbidity rates for other lung diseases such as sleep apnoea, tuberculosis, mesothelioma and occupational lung disease.