LUNG DISEASE

That this House is aware that lung disease is the third biggest killer in the UK, affecting over 12 million people at an annual cost of billions of pounds to the public purse; is alarmed by recent figures which reveal that mortality rates have not improved in the last 10 years with the UK now suffering the worst levels in Europe of diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, COPD, Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and mesothelioma; recognises the work of the British Lung Foundation in its fight to highlight this issue in its report, Battle For Breath, and calls on the Government to support its conclusions that there is a desperate need to establish an independent taskforce to produce a five year strategy to improve outcomes for patients and support the NHS in its quest to dramatically improve the present situation.