About Claire Stapleton

Claire Stapleton brings a rare dual perspective as both a patient living with complex Respiratory disease and a healthcare professional working within Respiratory services. She lives with asthma, complex allergy and Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, a rare genetic condition affecting lung health, giving her direct insight into the realities of managing long term Respiratory conditions and their overlap in daily life.

Clinical Experience and Service Insight

Alongside her lived experience, Claire has worked as a Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist and Clinical Project Manager, supporting severe asthma services and biologic pathways across multiple hospital sites. Her work has given her detailed insight into how care is delivered in practice, from referral and treatment initiation through to long term follow up and ongoing patient support.

She also brings experience across both primary and secondary care, giving her a broader understanding of how patients move through the Respiratory pathway and where delays, variation and access challenges can occur.

Expertise in Severe Asthma and Patient Experience

Claire offers a grounded perspective on the intersection between asthma, allergy and rare disease, highlighting how these conditions overlap and affect both clinical management and patient experience. She is particularly focused on the gap between guidelines and real world care, including rapid access during exacerbations, continuity of care, access to biologics and the realities of long term treatment.

Her combined perspective allows her to identify where pathways work well and where they break down, providing practical insight into how services can better reflect real patient need.

What Claire Brings to The Respiratory Network

At The Respiratory Network, Claire brings both clinical and lived experience insight into how Respiratory pathways are experienced from the patient side. She offers a clear view on how services can better support patients with complex conditions, ensuring that care is not only clinically effective but also accessible, coordinated and responsive to real world challenges.