New COPD pathway profiles for London’s local authorities have been released today in an effort to save the lives of thousands of patients.
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is a debilitating, life threatening, yet preventable disorder, which includes long term conditions such as emphysema and bronchitis.
In London, almost a quarter of a million people live with COPD, while approximately 2,300 people die from the disease every year. There are variations in outcomes across the capital, with residents of Southwark three and a half times as likely to die from COPD before the age of 75 years as residents of Richmond.
The NHS in London has recognised that COPD is an issue and the profiles have been developed to complement the capital’s COPD strategy and inform local commissioners about the areas that require improvement. The presentation of data along the COPD pathway enables local teams to quickly identify where efforts should be focussed. The profiles are tailor-made to each local authority with content informed by clinical experts. Developed in response to demand from London’s PCTs, they are an enhancement to London Health Programmes’ health needs assessment toolkit.
Smoking is the primary cause of COPD and the profiles indicate that one in five Londoners smoke and areas with the most smokers are often those with a greater number of deaths from COPD.
The risk of COPD rises with increasing age. As the population gets older, numbers of people with COPD are set to grow significantly. Stopping smoking is a treatment for COPD and it is particularly important that all COPD patients still smoking, regardless of age, are encouraged to stop, and offered help to do so, at every opportunity.
Programme Director Michael Wilson said: “We hope that the profiles will inform COPD service redesign across London. The profiles benchmark areas of strength and highlight where improvement is needed. We hope that they will be very useful to those in the public health, respiratory and clinical commissioning fields. Several local areas are already using the profile data to improve local services – Lewisham has recently introduced pulmonary rehabilitation and spirometry services to address the issues that the profiles have highlighted.”
The profiles include a map detailing recorded COPD prevalence against small area deprivation, an at–a-glance view of indicators, an analysis of spending and outcomes, a chart showing within-area inequalities and individual data commentaries for each local authority.
Profiles for each local authority are available on our website. For further information about the profiles, please contact Jennie Mussard, associate director, clinical and health intelligence.
For more information about COPD care in your area, please contact the NHS London Respiratory Team or your local commissioning organisation on LRT@london.nhs.uk.
—-ends—-
Editors note
Spirometry: a test of lung function that can be used to diagnose and monitor COPD.
Pulmonary rehabilitation: an integrated treatment programme, which includes educational and exercise components and is designed to reduce symptoms, decrease disability, increase participation in physical and social activities, and improve the overall quality of life for patients with chronic respiratory disease.
About London Health Programmes
London Health Programmes leads the development of proposals to improve health and healthcare services for Londoners. On behalf of London’s commissioners, we work with a range of patients and clinicians to review NHS services and propose changes that transforms health outcomes and improves value for money. We also provide commissioners with specialist evidence-based intelligence that assesses London’s health needs and identifies service gaps and priorities.
For further information, please contact Megan Skinner, head of communications, on 020 7685 6864.
Comments