Adult Asthma and COPD 2021 organisational audit: Summary report

The National Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Audit Programme (NACAP) has published its latest report on adult asthma and COPD. Based on data collected between 6 September to 8 October 2021, the report presents information on the structure and resourcing of 159 out of 198 of the hospital services that provide asthma and COPD care to adults in England and Wales. It also measures data against the key performance indicators (KPIs) recommended by NACAP to support good practice in the delivery of acute asthma and COPD secondary care. Findings (compared to NACAP’s first organisational audit in 2019) include:

• The provision of specialist respiratory review seven days a week continues to vary
• A higher percentage of services have a designated clinical lead in place for asthma and COPD
• A higher percentage of services have at least one formal transition arrangement in place for young people with asthma (41.1% compared to 30%), and
• Less than half of services (42.1%) offer access to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) services within 30 days of discharge for patients with COPD, compared to 45% in 2019.

Six services met all six KPIs, demonstrating that they are achievable. As such, the report urges these services to share the factors that enabled their success. Other recommendations include a call for services to make seven-day respiratory specialist advice available to all patients admitted with an asthma/COPD exacerbation. This recommendation is identified as one of the four improvement priorities which, if delivered, could drive marked improvements to care. Read the full report: You can read the report by clicking on the link below. Stay-up-to-date: For notifications of future reports from HQIP, sign up to our mailing list.