Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – Clinical Audit Report 2019

The COPD clinical audit, which captures the process and clinical outcomes of treatment in patients admitted to hospital in England and Wales with COPD exacerbations, launched on 1 February 2017. This is the second report since the move to continuous audit, and contains data on 74,645 admissions across 179 hospitals in England and Wales.

Key process measures included in this report are provision of timely review by a member of the respiratory team, oxygen prescription, provision of non-invasive ventilation, spirometry, recording of smoking status and prescription of smoking cessation pharmacotherapy, DECAF scores (an indicator of the risk of mortality in hospital) and discharge processes. Key short-term outcome measures included in this report are length of stay and inpatient mortality.

The evidence given in this clinical report provides a strong argument for investment in audit for those hospitals struggling to secure assistance, and investment in acute respiratory services.

Click below to download the main report, patient report and data analysis and methodology report.