The Oxford AHSN Respiratory Clinical Network will use and measure Royal College of Physicians identified markers of risk for good and poor asthma care in order to understand how primary care is performing within the Oxford AHSN region and then identify where to target intervention to improve this care.
Ten per cent of those who died of asthma had been admitted to hospital within the last month. Two-thirds of those were thought to have significantly avoidable factors such as lack of follow up, no action plan or lack of referral to a specialist service.
There is an urgent need within the Oxford AHSN region to understand the provision of care for asthmatics admitted to hospital, with particular attention on organisational issues. This will reduce readmission, improve clinical outcome and reduce cost.
The aim of this project is to understand current practice and care provision and put in place improvements focused on appropriate individual care plans, discharge planning and the provision of follow up.
Scope
This project covers all the acute trusts within the Oxford AHSN region:
- Oxford University Hospitals
- Buckinghamshire Healthcare
- Frimley Health
- Great Western Hospitals
- Milton Keynes University Hospital
- Royal Berkshire.
There will be a particular focus on the respiratory departments and their interaction with acute medicine and other areas where asthmatics are cared for within their trust. The project involves engaging with the leads in these areas in order to improve asthma care pathways and improving all clinical processes around the management of asthma in secondary care.
Outcomes
- This will reduce readmission, improve clinical outcome and reduce cost
- Each trust will have a clearly identified asthma lead working with dedicated asthma nurse specialists
- Each trust will have clear pathways of care for patients admitted with asthma leading to a reduced mortality and readmission rate
- Patients admitted with asthma will have a clear care plan on discharge to include a clear treatment and follow-up plan. This will reduce mortality and prevent readmissions as well as reducing future attack rates and system-wide costs.