COPD: Working together is the first report since the launch of continuous data collection on 1 February 2017. It presents the results of the cohort of patients discharged between the audit’s launch date and 13 September 2017.
A quality improvement (QI) slide set, focused on the key findings from the 2017 clinical audit, is also available.
Outcomes of patients included in the 2017 COPD clinical audit report, an addendum to this report, has now been published to show longer term outcomes for this patient cohort (30- and 90-day readmissions and mortality).
Key recommendations
Clinical Recommendations
For providers
- Ensure that:
- a spirometry result is available for all patients admitted to hospital with an acute exacerbation of COPD.
- all current smokers are identified, offered and, if they accept, prescribed smoking cessation pharmacotherapy.
- all patients requiring NIV on presentation (ie that have evidence of respiratory acidosis) receive it within 60 minutes of the blood gas result associated with the clinical decision to provide NIV and within 120 minutes of arrival for those who present acutely.
For patients/carers
- Complete the British Lung Foundation (BLF) patient passport for your COPD care, as this will facilitate a better discussion with your healthcare professional, improve understanding of your medication, help with smoking cessation (if needed), and enhance your chance of referral to pulmonary rehabilitation.
Outcome Recommendations
For providers
- Facilitate working across traditional specialty and organisational boundaries to improve optimal identification and management of multimorbidity in people living with COPD and to reduce the risk of readmission.
- Embed the COPD audit into everyday practice and use real-time data feedback to implement local QI initiatives to address readmission rates.
- Mortality rates remain high. Apply evidence-based interventions to treat and prevent COPD exacerbations in a timely manner in order to impact positively on survival.
For a full list of the recommendations see the longer-term outcomes addendum which can be accessed via the 'Downloads' section below.
How to use this report
While 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 clinical audit report.
Please note that all appendices for this report, including the full methodology, can be found in the data report.
The longer-term outcomes addendum should be read following the clinical report above to understand the complete picture of patients being admitted and discharged following a COPD exacerbation.
Downloads
National secondary care clinical audit report 2018
This is the national secondary care clinical audit report. It contains key findings, quality improvement opportunities and recommendations based on the first year of data collection of the 2017 continuous clinical 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 clinical audit (conducted and published in 2014) is also available.
Longer-term outcomes addendum
This describes longer-term readmission and mortality data for the clinical cohort above.