The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) announces the launch of our new Pulmonary Rehabilitation Services Accreditation Scheme (PRSAS).
Following a successful pilot funded by NHS England, the scheme will provide services with:
- expertise and up-to-date guidance on improving standards and enhancing patient experience
- a robust quality improvement process involving self-assessment and assessment from experienced professionals
- access to best practice standards based on the British Thoracic Society’s quality standards for pulmonary rehabilitation
- access to a new intuitive web tool to support quality improvement
- evaluation and feedback on your service’s current practice
- a badge of quality to reassure patients, commissioners and regulators.
Professor Mike Morgan, national clinical director for respiratory services in England, said:
The RCP pulmonary rehabilitation accreditation scheme is a very welcome development. We have seen from the national COPD audit just how effective clinical pulmonary rehabilitation programmes can be for people with COPD to limit their disability and improve self-management.
Service capacity, however, remains inadequate and a large expansion of services is required if we are to satisfy need. When these services do expand it is vital that the quality and good outcomes of the existing programmes are preserved. The clinical accreditation scheme is a sound and natural method for achieving this goal.
Professor Mike Roberts, senior clinical lead for the National Asthma and COPD Audit Programme (NACAP), said:
The national pulmonary rehabilitation audit has provided a snapshot to patients, commissioners and providers of the quality of care across the country and has defined improvement aims relevant to each service. The Pulmonary Rehabilitation Services Accreditation Scheme will enhance the improvement process providing in-depth scrutiny of each service.
The programme will encourage the exchange of good practice and problem solving between rehabilitation services, driving up standards across the country to the benefit of patients.
The scheme was developed in association with the British Thoracic Society and the British Lung Foundation and will run in collaboration with the RCP’s National Asthma and COPD Audit Programme.
Get involved
For more details regarding the scheme, including how to sign up, upcoming events and discounts available, email PRaccreditation@rcplondon.ac.uk.
