British Lung Foundation launches exhibition at the houses of parliament

A week-long parliamentary exhibition is being held by the British Lung Foundation (BLF) in the Upper Waiting Hall at the houses of parliament from 4-8 July.

Public Health Minister, Jane Ellison MP launched the event on 4 July, highlighting the prevalence and incidence of lung disease in the UK, its impact on public health and the need for people not to ignore breathlessness.

The exhibition will show case the British Lung Foundation’s upcoming ‘Listen to your lungs’ campaign and give MPs, Peers and visitors to parliament a chance to test their lungs using an online ‘breath test’ displayed on an interactive display donated by technology company MultiTaction.

Steven Wibberley, Chief Operating Officer for British Lung Foundation said:

This exhibition gives us the opportunity to throw the spotlight on respiratory health. We know lung disease kills one person every five minutes in the UK. It’s great to have the support of the Public Health Minister in dealing with burden of Britain’s third biggest killer."

“We also know that there are many people in the UK who may have a lung disease but do not have a diagnosis - who feel breathless on a daily basis but have not sought advice. We are offering our decision makers a chance to test their health on our interactive display, bringing healthcare and technology together to really drive the message home.”

The exhibition is the precursor to a campaign being launched in mid-July. Listen to your lungs will be a public health campaign to find the millions of people who are living with undiagnosed lung disease. The campaign will encourage people not to ignore feeling breathless doing everyday tasks and to take our simple online breath test to see if they might need to see a GP.  People are asked to answer ten questions based around the Medical Research Council breathlessness scale. This test will support the campaign by helping people decide if they need to see a GP. The aim is to reassure people who don't have a problem and guide those with significant breathlessness to make an appointment with their GP.

We want at least 100,000 people to take the test and share the test with their friends and family. The more people we can encourage to talk about lung disease the better.

This complements the launch of Public Health England’s national Be Clear on Cancer campaign on 14 July, raising awareness of persistent cough and inappropriate breathlessness as possible symptoms of lung disease, including lung cancer, and heart disease.