Report: Inspiring change: A review of the quality of care provided to patients receiving acute non-invasive ventilation

Reports | Published: 13 Jul 2017

This report focuses on a common and important area of acute clinical care in our hospitals – non-invasive ventilation (NIV). It is the first time that the topic has been examined in such depth and provides an excellent example of how a national audit and a national confidential enquiry can work in partnership to identify ways in which we can improve the care of our patients.

The study was proposed by the British Thoracic Society (BTS) who have undertaken several previous audits on acute noninvasive ventilation and have reported an increase in hospital mortality rates. Whilst an increasingly ageing and sicker population were considered to be potential contributory factors to account for this increase, the possibility that there may be additional factors adversely affecting the quality of care provided to these patients was another reason for performing the study. At all stages of our topic selection process, it was considered that the detailed review of case notes that NCEPOD methodology employs was an ideal way to answer some of the questions raised by the national audit. The findings have provided us with an even more detailed picture than we were expecting, which will have significant ramifications for this group of patients.

To download the full report and the executive summary click on the links at the bottom of this page. There are also three accompanying documents as follows:

View the infographic summary here

View the summary sheet here

View the patient’s question sheet here

Don’t miss out. Sign up to be notified when this resource is updated and to receive updates about other related quality improvement resources, events and news from HQIP. Or you can  .


By continuing you agree to receive emails with updates and other information from HQIP and you are confirming you are over the age of 13.

Please read our privacy policy to understand how HQIP uses the information you provide, your use of HQIP’s website and your interaction with the marketing emails to improve the relevance of the communications we send you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

I have read and agree with the contents of the privacy policy.

Report: Inspiring change: A review of the quality of care provided to patients receiving acute non-invasive ventilation