Unique Project To Improve COPD Care, UK

Main Category: COPD
Article Date: 28 Mar 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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A unique project to improve care for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) was launched on 21st March, 2007. For the first time ever, an evaluation is being carried out to assess a peer review process in which teams of healthcare professionals and managers from one hospital will be paired with another and will work together on improving key services for COPD patients.

The National COPD Resources and Outcomes Project (NCROP) will work across primary and secondary care boundaries, and is run by the British Thoracic Society (BTS), British Lung Foundation (BLF) and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), and is funded by The Health Foundation.

COPD is a progressive, irreversible lung disease that kills around 30,000 people a year in the UK. More people in England and Wales die of COPD than of breast, colon or prostate cancer. Yet COPD is both preventable and treatable and early diagnosis and treatment can slow the progression of the illness.

Best practice guidelines for the management of COPD were produced for NICE by the National Collaborating Centre for Chronic Conditions (based at the RCP) in 2004, but surveys have shown that hospitals still vary widely in the services they offer to patients, who are not always given the most appropriate treatments. This has a major impact on their quality of life.

The new project aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of services provided for people with COPD by measuring care in four key areas identified in the NICE guidelines for COPD - availability of early discharge schemes for patients from hospital, pulmonary rehabilitation schemes, access to non-invasive ventilation when required, and the provision of oxygen services. These areas have been chosen as they offer the best way of both improving quality of life and reducing the risk of dying from COPD.

Audits on other medical conditions show that hospitals working on their own tend to improve continuously, but slowly. The NCROP project will try to find out if hospitals can improve their performance more quickly by working together in pairs with peer review visits facilitated by the NCROP project team. The hospitals will visit each other, share good practice, produce an action plan, implement changes, and after 9 months will participate in the next National COPD Audit (2008) to find out what improvements have been made.

Professor Mike Roberts, Chair of the NCROP Steering Group and a Respiratory Physician at Whipps Cross University Hospital in London, said; "Doctors, nurses and managers working with patients as one team sharing their successes and solutions to COPD care with other teams in other parts of the country grappling with the same problems. Learning what is best in the NHS from each other. So simple but potentially so very effective."

Dame Helena Shovelton, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: "This project gives us a real chance to improve key services and enhance the quality of life of thousands of people who have COPD. Its crucial aspect is involving people with COPD themselves, whose experiences will help to shape the best possible treatments in future."

Dr Robert Stone of the British Thoracic Society said; "This will be the first study demonstrating how real change and improvement can be made at a practical level, to COPD services and patients, across the United Kingdom."

Dr Jonathan Potter, Clinical Director of the RCP's Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit, said: "This exciting project not only offers the opportunity to enhance care for people with COPD, but will shed light on the effectiveness of peer review in improving healthcare. The results of this study will be important for the improvement of care in other clinical areas.

Wendy Buckley, Assistant Director at the The Health Foundation, said: "We are delighted to be supporting this important project that has the potential dramatically to improve the quality of care for patients with COPD. We commend the dedication and drive to share best practice and to develop jointly innovative and effective ways of working."

The British Lung Foundation supports people affected by lung disease through the individual challenges they face. The charity helps people to understand their condition and works for positive change in lung health by campaigning, raising awareness and funding world-class research.

The British Thoracic Society's aims are:

The relief of sickness for people with respiratory and associated disorders by the promotion of the highest standards of clinical care; the undertaking of research into the causes, prevention and treatment of respiratory and associated disorders; and disseminating the results of such research.

The preservation and protection of public health by the provision of information in matters concerning respiratory and associated disorders and how they might be prevented.

The Health Foundation wants to make the quality of healthcare in the UK the best it can be. Working with others, we are helping to shape a future healthcare system that offers safe, effective and responsive care for all. We are a charitable foundation and operate independently from government, political parties or other interest groups. Our endowment enables us to spend up to £20 million annually. We seek out the best people in healthcare and support them to learn and share with others. Through projects, research and evaluation studies we test and measure new ways of improving health services for the future. We actively influence healthcare decision-makers so that we achieve sustainable and widespread improvements in the quality of patient care.

Royal College of Physicians of London

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