We are built on our close collaboration with people with lung conditions, patient organisations, healthcare professionals and the public. Here, you can find out how we do this and what groups we work with.
The ELF Council is the organisation’s main controlling body. They are responsible for the work plan, activities and financial control of ELF. The Council work to guide ELF and provide an overview of its activities.
Half of the ELF Council is made up of patient members. These include the ELF Chair (who is appointed via an interview process), the Chair of the Patient Advisory Committee (elected by the Patient Advisory Committee), a representative of the European Patient Ambassador Programme (EPAP) (elected by the EPAP Patient Advisory Group) and a representative with specials skills or interest related to the ELF strategy (by invitation).
The remaining half of the council is made up of European Respiratory Society (ERS) members including the President, President-Elect, Treasurer, Secretary General and Advocacy Chair.
The Patient Advisory Committee is made up of European respiratory patient organisations, with members representing different conditions, to ensure all lung conditions are represented equally. The aim is to develop a united voice of respiratory patient organisations across Europe.
The purpose of the Patient Advisory Committee is to provide input to the ELF Council on all issues relating to patient organisations. The Committee also provides guidance and support to ELF to integrate the patient voice within ELF and ERS activities.
The Patient Organisation Network includes over 200 organisations worldwide covering over 40 different lung conditions. They input into ELF activities and share with us the news of what they have been working on to improve lung health globally.
The United Patient Advisory Group is made up of one representative from each of the Patient Advisory Groups. They discuss best practice and common issues that arise between different lung conditions.
These groups lead the work ELF does in specific disease areas. The members of these groups are individual patients, carers or patient organisation representatives across 14 different disease areas:
The Professional Advisory Committee is made up of a group of ERS specialists and professionals from primary care selected from across Europe. They guide ELF on the topics to write about, and assess all written material made available online to ensure content is accurate and reliable.
Our Professional Advisory Committee are all members of the European Respiratory Society (ERS).
Our team of translators and early career members offer support with translations and writing lay summaries. The early career members are ERS members who are starting out in their medical careers; translators can be any ERS member.
The MEP Lung Health Group is an informal platform for policymakers, health professionals and patients to identify the potential EU policy measures aimed at improving lung health. The MEP Lung Health Group coordinate joint advocacy work, statements and activities at the European Union level. ERS and European umbrella patient organisations steer and guide the work of the group and are supported by all other patient and professional organisations across Europe.
The European Patient Ambassador Programme Advisory Group is made up of individual patients, carers or patient organisation representatives that have completed the European Patient Ambassador Programme. They advise on how the programme can be improved and better promoted.
There are a number of working groups within ELF that bring together patients and professionals to work on a hot topic that is related to the ELF strategy. These are formed on an ad-hoc basis and operate for a limited time.
The ELF Youth Group is a place for people with lung conditions aged 16–24 to discuss things that are important to them. They help ELF pay attention to the needs of young people with a lung condition.
The ELF office is based in Sheffield in the UK and Brussels in Belgium. The team take care of the day-to-day running of ELF. They plan our events, coordinate our work with patients and healthcare professionals, and produce the materials on our website. If you contact us, via the website or our social media channels, this is the team you will reach.
