Asthma team shortlisted for national award
A team of healthcare professionals from Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, whose work has helped to reduce hospital admissions, visits to our emergency department and significantly improve standards of asthma care, has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award.
The team, based in the Chest Clinic at Derriford Hospital, have been shortlisted down to the final five in the Respiratory Medicine Team category of the national British Medical Journal (BMJ) Awards 2014.
Launched in 2009, the awards are the UK's premier medical awards programme, recognising and celebrating the inspirational work done by doctors and their teams.
The shortlisting reflects a great deal of hard work on the part of our asthma specialist nurses and respiratory consultant who run the Plymouth Asthma Team.
Dr Matthew Masoli, Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, said “We are absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted for this award and it’s great for all the team’s hard work to be recognised
“In September 2011, an asthma in-reach team was established to improve asthma inpatient care and follow up. Just over a year later, in October 2012, this service was expanded to actively trace all patients who had attended the emergency department (ED) in the previous 24 hours.”
Dr Masoli continued: “We aim to review all adult asthmatics admitted acutely to us either whilst on the wards or in an asthma clinic following discharge. The asthma clinic is run by our asthma nurse specialists and we check patients understanding of their asthma, their inhaler technique and compliance with medications, support smoking cessation and importantly, use of a written asthma management plan. Focusing on optimising these simple measures improves asthma symptoms and reduces future risk of asthma attacks.
“All patients are discussed in a weekly multidisciplinary team meeting with the respiratory consultant and asthma nurses and a management plan advised and communicated back to the patient’s GP. If patients are more complex or continue to have poor asthma control they can easily be referred to be seen in the specialist Difficult Asthma clinic for a more detailed systematic work up.”
Since the introduction of the Plymouth Asthma Team, the Trust has seen a reduction in asthma hospital admissions, emergency department visits and significant improvements in standards of asthma care.
The team travelled to London earlier this week to present their case and explain why their project should win. They now have to wait until next month to find out whether they have won. The winners will be announced on Thursday 8 May 2014 at a ceremony at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster, London.
Asthma - The Facts
Follow up by a healthcare professional after an asthma attack is vital to ensure ongoing clinical improvement and prevent further asthma attacks and hospital admissions.
It’s estimated that 90% of asthma deaths are preventable and 75% of asthma hospital admissions avoidable (Asthma UK). It’s well known that simple measures such as use of asthma self-management plans, compliance with asthma treatment, inhaler technique and asthma education are often poor but if improved will reduce the risk of asthma attacks and improve day to day asthma control.
The British Thoracic Society advise people who received treatment in hospital or through out-of-hours services for an acute exacerbation of asthma are followed up by their own GP practice within two working days and all people attending hospital with acute exacerbations of asthma should be reviewed by a clinician with particular expertise in asthma management, preferably within 30 days.
