During Pulmonary Rehabilitation Awareness Week 2026, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has showcased how pulmonary rehabilitation services across the UK are using accreditation, innovation and collaboration to improve care for patients.
Pulmonary Rehabilitation Awareness Week 2026 (15–19 June) provided an opportunity to celebrate the vital role of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in supporting people living with respiratory conditions, while highlighting the teams working to strengthen services across the UK.
Throughout the week, the RCP-hosted Pulmonary Rehabilitation Services Accreditation Scheme (PRSAS) shared examples of how accreditation can support services to go beyond quality assurance – helping teams raise awareness, influence service development and build stronger relationships with colleagues, referrers, commissioners and patients.
A case study from Nottingham CityCare Integrated Respiratory and Home Oxygen Service showed how accreditation has helped increase the visibility of PR across the organisation. Recognising that awareness and understanding of PR can vary among both healthcare professionals and patients, the team used its PRSAS journey as a platform to promote the value and impact of the service. This included making better use of service data, engaging more closely with referrers and sharing patient experiences through videos developed in partnership with communications and patient engagement colleagues. These resources are now being used across internal and external channels to support conversations about the benefits of PR and encourage greater understanding of the service.
The case study also highlighted how accreditation can support wider organisational objectives. By providing national recognition of service quality, PRSAS helped the team demonstrate outcomes, strengthen reporting and support the sustainability of the service. Enhanced use of data also helped identify referral patterns and target engagement with referrers more effectively.
A second case study from West Essex Pulmonary Rehabilitation Service explored how accreditation standards can be used to influence decision-making and advocate for the facilities needed to deliver high-quality care. Delivering PR across a large geographical area brought challenges, including limited access to suitable venues and competing pressures on resources. The team described how PRSAS has given them a recognised framework to demonstrate what good-quality PR requires and to challenge proposals that would not adequately support patient care. By using accreditation standards in discussions with managers, commissioners and other stakeholders, the service was able to advocate successfully for facilities that better met the needs of both patients and staff.
Alongside the case studies, PRSAS hosted a Community of Practice event focused on the PR workforce. The session brought colleagues together from across the PR community to share experiences, discuss common challenges and explore approaches to developing and sustaining teams. Discussions covered recruitment, retention, skill mix and service resilience, creating valuable opportunities for shared learning and peer support.
A clear theme throughout the Awareness Week was the importance of collaboration. Whether through sharing patient stories, using data to support service development, influencing organisational decision-making or learning from peers, services demonstrated how collective effort can strengthen PR provision and improve outcomes for patients.
‘Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) can transform lives,’ said RCP clinical vice president Dr Hilary Williams. ‘By continuing to raise awareness, share good practice and support quality improvement, the RCP-hosted Pulmonary Rehabilitation Services Accreditation Scheme (PRSAS) can help ensure that more patients are able to access the benefits that high quality PR provides and enable them to live well and independently,’ she added.
To find out more, visit the PRSAS website.