This FAQ has been developed following the Respiratory Transformation Partnership (RTP) Programme Launch Webinar held on 23rd April 2026.
The RTP is a developing programme and some areas of work are still being designed. This FAQ reflects the current position and will be reviewed and updated as further information becomes available.
This FAQ is intended to be a live resource and will be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect programme developments, emerging learning, new resources and answers to questions raised by stakeholders through webinars, events and programme activities.
Frequently asked questions
Choose a topic to explore.
Clinical model and pathway redesign
Workforce and capability
Digital innovation and data infrastructure
Commissioning and equitable access
Programme delivery and future opportunities
Staying connected
Clinical model and pathway redesign
How can respiratory clinical leadership and multidisciplinary representation within Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) be strengthened?
Strengthening respiratory leadership within ICBs will require dedicated respiratory leads and greater collaboration across primary, community, and secondary care to improve coordination, reduce fragmentation, and ensure multidisciplinary representation in service planning.
What lessons from the RTP programme could be applied to other clinical specialty areas?
The RTP will capture and share key learning, success factors, case studies and practical examples from participating sites. These resources will support other clinical specialties and healthcare systems interested in applying similar approaches to pathway redesign, clinical leadership, partnership working and service transformation. Learning will be shared through the RTP website, case study repository and relevant events.
How can organisations share successful respiratory service models and examples of good practice?
The RTP will develop a repository of case studies and use cases to support shared learning including examples demonstrating improvements in outcomes, access, diagnosis, and service delivery. These will be shared on the RTP webpage, and relevant events.
Will learning from the Pathway Transformation Fund (PTF) Community of Practice be shared more widely through the RTP programme?
Learning from the PTF Community of Practice will be shared through the RTP. This will include a toolkit, practical tips, and learning from participating sites. Resources will be shared once all programme data has been collected and final site interviews have been completed. Further information and resources will be made available through the RTP website.
How will the RTP programme support confidence and adoption of SABA-free ICS-formoterol asthma treatment approaches?
The RTP will build confidence through clinical leadership, workforce education, pathway redesign, and data-driven support, helping NHS systems implement evidence-based respiratory care aligned with BTS/NICE/ SIGN asthma guidance.
How will the RTP programme support wider adoption of guideline-based asthma prescribing and reduce reliance on SABA-only treatment?
The RTP will support wider adoption of guideline-based asthma prescribing through clinical leadership, workforce education, pathway redesign, and data-driven implementation support across NHS systems. By promoting evidence-based care aligned with BTS/NICE/SIGN guidance, the programme will help clinicians transition away from SABA-only treatment toward anti-inflammatory reliever approaches, improving asthma control, reducing exacerbations, and supporting safer, more consistent prescribing practices.
How can respiratory optimisation approaches be prioritised and embedded into routine clinical practice?
The RTP aims to support the embedding and long-term sustainability of respiratory optimisation approaches within routine clinical practice. Patient prioritisation will be supported through the use of targeted searches, standardised templates, and outcome-focused approaches. The programme will continue to explore opportunities that support implementation and sustainability, including the potential role of commissioning mechanisms such as Directed Enhanced Services (DES).
How will respiratory transformation work support people with multiple long-term conditions and more holistic, person-centred care?
The RTP is focused on supporting whole-person care. While the programme’s workstreams are designed to improve respiratory outcomes and support the delivery of evidence-based care within neighbourhood settings, the models of care being developed will be person-centred, led by individual need, and designed to address the full spectrum of disease, symptoms, and complexity, including people living with multiple long-term conditions.
What challenges exist in expanding biologic treatment delivery across hospital and community settings?
Expanding biologic treatment delivery across hospital and community settings requires a more integrated, whole-pathway approach rather than a shift in responsibility from one setting to another. The key challenges relate to workforce capacity, training, and resource availability across the system, alongside limitations in current clinical pathways that were not designed for more distributed models of care.
To support wider delivery, there is a need to reconfigure pathways so that they are better aligned across primary, community, and secondary care. This includes ensuring timely access to diagnostics and eligibility assessments, strengthening multidisciplinary team (MDT) working, and maintaining continuity of care. Central to this is ensuring that patients continue to have appropriate access to respiratory consultants and specialist expertise, regardless of where care is delivered.
Ongoing NHS structural changes, including ICB mergers, can make it more challenging to prioritise service development and investment in biologics. This reinforces the importance of strong clinical leadership and system-level support to understand existing resources, identify service gaps, and drive pathway redesign.
Overall, success will depend on coordinated system working, supported by leadership, investment, and a clear focus on delivering high-quality care closer to home.
Does the RTP programme include children and young people?
The RTP is currently focused on adult respiratory care pathways and services.
Workforce and capability
Are there resources or business case templates available to support the development of multidisciplinary respiratory teams across primary and secondary care?
NHS England has produced business case guidance designed to support respiratory service transformation. This guidance includes information to help make the case for change, describe service models, understand expected service impact, and support activity and financial planning. In addition, case studies will be developed to showcase different service models and share examples of how organisations have secured funding to support service reconfiguration and transformation.
Further information, guidance and resources are available on the RTP website.
How is the RTP programme involving respiratory physiotherapists and supporting workforce transformation across community respiratory care?
Physiotherapy is involved throughout the RTP, including across site-based work, workshops, meetings and community and integrated respiratory services. The programme will continue to involve respiratory physiotherapists in its work.
How will workforce development, including community consultant nurse roles, support respiratory pathway transformation?
Workforce development will support respiratory pathway transformation by expanding specialist skills, improving multidisciplinary working, and enabling more care to be delivered in community settings. Roles such as community consultant nurses can provide clinical leadership, support early diagnosis and proactive management, reduce hospital admissions, and improve continuity of care across primary, community, and secondary services. Strengthening the respiratory workforce through education, advanced practice roles, and integrated team working will also help deliver more consistent, patient-centred, and preventative respiratory care.
Will funding be available to support workforce upskilling and accredited respiratory training?
Funding support for workforce upskilling and asthma and COPD training will be important to ensure successful respiratory pathway transformation. This will be factored into pathway transformation funding.
Digital innovation and data infrastructure
Is artificial intelligence (AI) currently being used to support spirometry interpretation, and are there plans for wider use?
The RTP is currently reviewing the potential role of artificial intelligence (AI) in supporting respiratory services, including spirometry interpretation. Further information will be shared once this work has been completed. As digital and AI-enabled solutions continue to develop, the programme will consider how they may support service delivery while ensuring that clinical judgement remains central to patient care.
How will Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) be supported to access and use population health management data for respiratory care?
Improving access to and use of respiratory data is a key priority for the RTP. A national respiratory data strategy is being developed to support more consistent approaches to coding, definitions and data access across systems. Discussions are also underway regarding investment in respiratory data infrastructure. As a first step, the programme is focusing on practical support, including shared coding approaches, templates and tools that can help extract data from commonly used clinical systems to support population health management and improved patient outcomes.
Will population health management tools and clinical resources be developed nationally or locally by systems?
The RTP aims to showcase and scale approaches that are already working well locally, such as the Southampton model. Shared tools, templates, questionnaires, and other resources will be made available to support wider adoption, while allowing systems to adapt them to local needs rather than reinventing them.
Will the new digital platform for biologics build on existing proven solutions or be developed from scratch?
The digital platform is being developed by building on existing knowledge and proven approaches rather than starting entirely from scratch. The RTP has worked closely with the National Respiratory Audit Programme (NRAP) and a broad range of stakeholders to scope and design a biologics quality dashboard to support both initiation and ongoing monitoring of respiratory biologics.
The platform draws on established data solutions and a strong understanding of current systems. It has been co-designed with clinicians and data analysts to ensure it is practical to use, minimises data burden, and enables effective data linkage.
How will digital respiratory pathway solutions be selected and scaled across the RTP programme?
Digital solutions will play an important enabling role in supporting integration, monitoring, and patient engagement across settings. However, national commissioning for digital tools is still evolving. Programmes such as the RTP therefore have a key role in providing leadership and momentum, including work to establish COPD digital therapeutics as an early use case within the NHS App Health Store programme.
Overall, the approach combines existing expertise and infrastructure with targeted development to deliver a high-quality, clinically relevant tool that supports timely, equitable, and evidence-based access to biologic therapies.
What role will digital pathway solutions play within the RTP programme, and how might implementation and scaling be supported?
- Digital solutions are expected to support pathway transformation rather than act as standalone interventions.
- RTP’s role is to enable consistent adoption, learning, and spread across systems.
How will digital respiratory pathway solutions be funded and implemented across systems?
- Funding and implementation approaches are being developed to align with national priorities while supporting local flexibility.
- RTP will act as a coordinating mechanism linking national direction with system-led delivery.
Will the RTP programme support a single national digital platform or multiple local solutions?
- The direction of travel is towards national coherence alongside local flexibility in delivery.
- RTP will support approaches that balance consistency with system needs.
How will successful digital respiratory pathway solutions be evaluated and scaled across the NHS?
- Evaluation is expected to focus on real-world impact and pathway-level outcomes.
- RTP will support sharing of learning and enable wider adoption where value is demonstrated.
Commissioning and equitable access
How is the RTP programme addressing the impact of housing conditions and air quality on respiratory health?
The RTP recognises housing as an important wider determinant of respiratory health. Housing-related factors are being considered within patient optimisation work across asthma and COPD and some sites have worked with local authority partners to address wider determinants of health as part of respiratory pathway transformation. The programme will continue to support shared learning from local initiatives and encourage collaboration between healthcare, housing and local authority partners where this can improve respiratory outcomes.
How will respiratory transformation work be sustained and embedded within Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) once pilot funding ends?
The RTP aims to support more pathway transformation sites across England and encourage the adoption of respiratory clinical leadership within all ICBs. By sharing examples of what clinical leadership can deliver, publishing commissioning support, and helping to create the right policy environment, the programme aims to support local systems in improving respiratory outcomes. This work aligns with key ICB priorities, including reducing health inequalities, addressing winter pressures, and improving outcomes for underserved communities.
Has the RSV vaccination programme had an impact on COPD admissions during winter?
At the time of the webinar, data on the impact of the RSV vaccination programme on COPD admissions during winter were not yet available. The programme will continue to monitor emerging evidence as data become available.
How will future RTP programme funding be allocated, and how will areas of greatest need be prioritised?
Funding allocation decisions will be guided by a set of core principles:
- Addressing population need: Priority will be given to areas demonstrating the greatest need.
- System readiness and capability: Consideration will be given to each system’s level of readiness to implement transformational change.
- Geographical equity and spread: To support national consistency in standards of care, funding will be distributed to ensure a broad geographical spread of transformation activity.
How will long-term sustainability of respiratory transformation programmes be supported across systems?
Sustainability planning will be integral to all resourced test bed sites. Strong clinical leadership, multidisciplinary collaboration, workforce development, integrated care models, digital infrastructure, and data-driven quality improvement. and alignment with wider NHS priorities such as prevention, reducing health inequalities, and community-based care will help embed respiratory transformation within system planning. Ongoing evaluation, shared learning across networks, and stable funding arrangements through business cases will also be important to maintain consistent, high-quality respiratory services over time.
Programme delivery and future opportunities
When will the next funding call open for NHS sites to apply for support for asthma and COPD pathway development?
The date for this has not been confirmed but will be widely communicated when it is.
Will further information be provided about future funding opportunities, application timelines, and eligibility for respiratory transformation programmes?
Further information on funding opportunities, application timelines, and eligibility will be shared as details become available. These will be shared on the RTP website and through relevant events.
Is there a timeline for next steps, including future funding and bidding opportunities?
Dates have not been confirmed but will be widely communicated when they are. Information will also be posted on the RTP website.
Staying connected
How can attendees stay connected and receive future updates from the RTP programme?
Attendees can stay connected and receive future updates through the RTP website and relevant events, where programme updates, resources, and opportunities for engagement will be shared. You can also sign up to our mailing list.