COPD: Time to integrate care presents findings from the snapshot audit of the organisation and resourcing of COPD care that was undertaken in hospitals in England and Wales between 3 April and 30 June 2017.
A quality improvement (QI) slide set, focused on the key findings from the 2017 organisational audit, is also available.
Key recommendations
For providers across the sectors
- Develop achievable QI projects that aim to improve access to services, thereby reducing the risk of avoidable admission. Some examples would include:
- enhancing specialist COPD care on MAUs and non-respiratory wards
- improving the proportion of smokers who receive appropriate pharmacotherapy
- improving the identification of frailty
- improving the number of eligible patients who are offered a start date for PR within 4 weeks of discharge.
- Review the respiratory bed allocation, in light of the fact that the audit shows that most COPD patients are not being cared for by respiratory teams, despite evidence that suggests this improves outcomes
- Work to develop a 7-day, cross-sector COPD service
- start by looking at the existing resource and consider developing a business case to enlarge the team.
For commissioners / sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs)
- Ensure that:
- there is an agreed COPD pathway that links discharge processes to admission avoidance strategies, as well as to evolving community-based frailty and social care services
- within this pathway, PR is available to all appropriate patients, including early post-discharge.
For patients/carers
- Complete the BLF patient passport for your COPD care. If you are unaware of the BLF patient passport, or are unable to say yes to all of the steps, discuss it with your GP, practice nurse or hospital specialist team.
- Contact your local support groups such as Breathe Easy, Singing for lung health, or walking groups, to help manage your condition.
How to use this report
Whilst the results and data analysis report is available to the interested reader, it is not necessary to review this to appreciate the key messages within the national secondary care organisational audit report.
Please note that all appendices for this report, including the full methodology, can be found in the data report.
Downloads
National secondary care organisational audit report 2018
This is the national secondary care organisational audit report. It contains key findings, quality improvement opportunities and recommendations based on the 2017 snapshot organisational audit data.
Results and data analysis
The results and data analysis report is available to download below.
QI focused slide set
This slide set pulls together the key findings of the report, with a QI focus.
The national report from the previous secondary care organisational audit (conducted and published in 2014) is also available.