IPCRG and ERS

Announcement June 2020

We are delighted to announce that the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (www.ipcrg.org) and European Respiratory Society (www.ersnet.org) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. This forms the basis for joint educational and supportive activities about the diagnosis and management of respiratory problems in primary care (including family medicine, general practice and community-based health services), health equity and good quality referral to and from secondary care.

As well as reciprocal activities to promote the organisations, their resources and their congresses, the leadership teams have agreed to meet annually to consider potential joint activities.

"We are delighted with this development. The IPCRG has heard repeatedly from its members about their need for support on diagnosis in resource limited settings, now with the added challenge of COVID-19, and to have assurance programmes in place so that the public and secondary care colleagues have confidence in their diagnostic skills.  We have raised with ERS colleagues the possibility of developing some shared initiatives in this field, as well as facilitating trusted patient-centred pathways of care between primary care and secondary care," said Ioanna Tsiligianni, President of IPCRG.

Professor Thierry Troosters is President of the ERS. He said: “ERS brings together all those that care for patients with respiratory disorders. Hence we are excited to collaborate with the IPCRG on future educational and supportive activities that will focus on the diagnosis and management of respiratory problems in primary care settings. This cooperation will support our goals of promoting lung health to alleviate suffering from disease and driving standards for respiratory medicine globally across lines of health care.”