How to support someone with a lung condition

Supporting someone with a lung condition can look different for everyone.

It can also change because someone may want or need different support at different times or depending on how they’re feeling. For example, someone might want more support when they’re having a flare-up, recovering from an asthma attack or if their condition is getting worse.

It’s important to talk to the person you’re supporting about what they find most helpful.

Supporting someone might mean you’re doing things like:

• supporting them to manage their condition well by following their asthma action plan or self-management plan
• supporting them with medical appointments like routine reviews, vaccine and booster appointments, or pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) sessions
• encouraging them to stay active as much as they can  
• helping them to manage their breathlessness 
• making sure they’re eating well and keeping a healthy weight 
• encouraging them to stop smoking 
• being there to listen to them and encouraging them to speak to a healthcare professional if you feel they need extra support for their mental health and wellbeing 
• helping them with washing and dressing, eating and taking medicines 
• cooking, cleaning and shopping for food.  

The person you’re supporting may also have more than one condition. This can affect what they need from you. Find out more about supporting someone with dementia. 

We sometimes use the word “carer” in this information.

A carer is someone who regularly looks after and supports a family member, friend or neighbour without being paid. They could be helping anyone with a long-term health condition, like a lung condition, a disability or an illness.  

You might not think of yourself as a carer or like being called a carer. You may feel like you’re just looking after someone that you care about. Being someone’s carer might only be one part of your relationship with them.

But it’s important to recognise your role as a carer because it means that you can get support that helps you look after yourself and the person you’re caring for.

Find out more about looking after yourself as a carer.

Understand their lung condition

Carers can notice physical and emotional changes before healthcare professionals or other family members. Over time, carers often become experts in the health condition of the person they care for.

If you’re new to caring for someone with a lung condition, it may help you to find out more about their condition.

Speak with their healthcare professionals to help you feel prepared

Make sure you’re able to get the support you need to help the person you care for to manage their lung condition well.

It can be scary when someone’s symptoms get suddenly worse. It can help you feel more confident if you’re prepared.

Ask their doctors and healthcare team for advice. You may find it helpful to take a list of any questions you have to appointments with the GP or other healthcare professionals.

Find out more about practical tips from the NHS if you care for someone.

When you’re not the only carer

Sometimes, you’re not the only person caring for someone. You may need to communicate regularly with other people, like friends and family, who have caring responsibilities too. 

Keeping people up to date, or keeping track of important messages and dates, can sometimes be challenging. 

The Jointly app, created by Carers UK, is designed to make the job easier. As well as messaging, you can keep notes, make lists, create calendar events, keep track of medication, and create a useful contacts list. 

Some people may get breathless because of their lung condition.  

Breathlessness makes it harder to do everyday things. Feeling breathless can be frightening and stressful, and some people might feel embarrassed about it. 

It can also be upsetting for you to see someone you care about struggling to breathe.  

To support someone who lives with breathlessness:

• Talk to them about what being breathless feels like for them and what they would like you to do when they’re breathless  – for example, some people might like to have some time and space to recover but others might prefer to hear reassurance in the moment.
• Agree ways to communicate when someone is feeling very breathless and finds it hard to speak, for example using hand signs or signals 
• Understand what different levels of breathlessness can look and feel like for them – ask them to describe different episodes of breathlessness to you and rate them on a scale of 0 to 10, if 0 is not breathless at all and 10 is the worst breathlessness.  Compare their ratings with your experience of the same episodes and how you would’ve rated them. You might rate them differently. Understanding their experience can help you plan how to manage different levels of breathlessness appropriately. 
• Encourage them to breathe out when they feel breathless, using techniques like pursed lip breathing – this helps create more space for the next breath in 
• Talk through the plans for the day and allow time for rest before and after any activities.
• Try to plan activities for the times of day when they’re less likely to feel breathless. 
• Ask their healthcare professional about getting referred to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). 

Find out more about: 

• managing breathlessness in the moment, including positions to help someone recover from breathlessness
• what can help someone live well with breathlessness
• supporting someone with breathlessness. 

Always seek urgent help if someone is finding it very difficult to breathe. 

Encourage the person you care for to keep as active as possible.  

This might not always feel like an easy thing to do if they often feel breathless. But it’s worth trying because keeping active has lots of benefits. It can help strengthen their breathing muscles and make them less breathless.

Many people with a long-term lung condition find that exercise, like pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), can help them manage their condition, build their confidence, improve their quality of life, and boost their mood.

There are lots of ways you can encourage the person you care for to stay active:

• Find some activities you can do together, like going for a short walk  – it can be really helpful to do things together so you can see how breathless someone gets
• Find out more about pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) – this also includes chair-based exercises
• Singing or playing a musical instrument can help people feel more in control of their breathing, manage their symptoms better, and feel less breathless. You could encourage them to join our support groups like Singing for Lung Health or Harmonica for Lung Health.

We have plenty of resources about how to safely keep active with a lung condition, including our Keep Active programme and Keep Active handbook. 

It’s important that the person you’re caring for has a healthy, well-balanced diet with a wide range of foods from all five food groups. 

This can sometimes be hard if they get breathless when they’re eating.

You could encourage healthy eating by making it a shared activity, for example:  

• make a shopping list together – plan to buy ingredients for healthy meals and snacks
• go to the supermarket together, if this is possible – shopping is a chance to get a bit of exercise and activity into the day
• eat meals together.

The NHS Eatwell guide shows how much we need to eat from each of the five food groups.

Find out more about healthy eating and weight for people with lung conditions, including what can help someone who’s struggling with eating and drinking.

Living with a long-term lung condition can also affect someone’s mental health and wellbeing. It’s common for people living with a lung condition to get stressed, anxious or depressed. 

Here are some tips to emotionally support the person you care for:

• Ask how you can help – try talking to them about how they want to be supported when they’re feeling low
• Be a good listener – let them know you care and are there to listen, without judgement
• Reassure them and talk them through breathing calmly and slowly if they’re stressed or panicking
• Help them to stay in touch with friends and family or to connect with others online if they feel isolated – you could suggest they look into our support groups
• Encourage them to keep active and eat well – these have lots of benefits and have been shown to help with low mood and stress 
• Speak to their healthcare professional about finding other sources of support, such as psychological therapy or social care support.

Caring for someone might feel difficult sometimes and it’s important to look after your own wellbeing too. Find out more about looking after yourself when you’re supporting someone.

Find out more about looking after mental health and wellbeing when you have a lung condition, including managing breathlessness and anxiety.

Find out more about how to support someone with their mental health from the charity Mind.

If you look after someone with a lung condition, it’s important to try to help them avoid getting a chest infection. This is because they’re more likely to get serious chest infections which can cause their symptoms to suddenly get worse.

Infections like colds, flu, and COVID-19 spread very easily, particularly during colder months.

As a carer:

• let your GP know you’re a carer so you can get a free flu jab each year. Make sure you’re also up to date on any other vaccines you’re eligible for, including COVID-19, RSV and pneumonia (pneumococcal vaccine) 
• book vaccine appointments for the person you’re caring for if they’re eligible
• try to avoid contact with anyone who has a cold or another illness
• practice good hygiene, like always washing your hands with soap and water when you come home, using an antibacterial hand sanitiser when you’re out, and always covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze
• wearing a well fitted mask may be helpful in limiting the spread of some infections if you have a cough or a cold but still need to be there to care.

People living with lung conditions and breathlessness can sometimes benefit from having helpful equipment at home.

For example, the person you care for may benefit from things like:

• wheeled trollies to move small items around the house
• bath cushions and shower seats to make washing more comfortable
• ramps for wheelchairs, if needed
• stairlifts if they’re too breathless to walk up the stairs
• raised toilet seats or rails to hold to help them get on and off the toilet more easily
• commodes (a seat with a hidden toilet) if getting to the bathroom is difficult.

Carers UK has lots of examples of different types of equipment that can help around the house.

They also have information about different types of technologies that can help some people with long-term conditions, like voice-activated devices, electronic door locks and special phones.

How can I get the equipment? 

The equipment you can get and how much help you can have with the costs depends on where you live in the UK. 

Ask for a free needs assessment from your local council or trust – these check what help someone might need with their care and how to get it, including equipment. Find your local council from the GOV.UK website.

Find out about how to get care equipment and home adaptations:

• if you live in England or Wales – the NHS also has more information about home adaptations.
• if you live in Scotland
• if you live in Northern Ireland.

Help with equipment costs:

• Check if the person you’re caring for is eligible for a grant 
• Independence at Home has useful information about grants 
• Living Made Easy provides help with finding equipment.
• Find out more about getting help with equipment costs from Carers UK.

You could also hire or loan the equipment. 

Find out more about financial help and benefits for people with a lung condition and if you're a carer.

Planning for the final stages of caring can be very difficult. 

We have advice on nearing the end of life, including what you can expect if the person you care for is reaching the end of their life, and what you might need to do. For example planning end of life care and putting their affairs in order. 

Making difficult decisions 

You may want to think about a lasting power of attorney covering health and welfare.

If the person you care for nominates you as an attorney. This means you’ll be able to tell their healthcare professionals about their wishes and help make decisions on their behalf, if they cannot do this.

You might also want to talk to healthcare professionals about what options are available locally, such as helping you provide care at home or with getting care in a hospice or hospital.

Palliative care specialists can give support with controlling symptoms and improving the quality of life for the person, their family, and carers at any stage of their condition.

When caring ends   

Your caring role is likely to change over time, and it can be hard to adjust when it comes to an end. Read more about caring for a loved one at the end of life.

When your caring role ends, your feelings and reactions will be unique to you. Whatever you’re feeling, a range of support is available: 

• Hospice UK has lots of information and support if you’ve been bereaved, including practical advice. 
• Cruse Bereavement Support is a charity that helps people who have lost loved ones to understand their grief and cope with their loss. They have a free helpline and local support services, including support groups and information sessions.
• Carers UK has advice and support for life after caring.