New respiratory projects influenced by patient feedback

Back in February/March, Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group had a conversation with over 50 local people who live with respiratory conditions about their experience of services in Sheffield, how they could be improved and what would help people to stay well for longer. With those comments and voices in our ears, we have heard what patients find value in and where they feel there are potentially some gaps. I am now keen to share with you what we have done with that feedback.

We used a combination of methods which used Patient Opinion as the central repository for the feedback we received. Be that through the patient feedback directly to the site or from the group and individual interviews we completed. Some of the highlighted themes are;

• The benefit of having a strict routine including adherence to medication and regular exercise
• The positive difference made by attending Pulmonary Rehabilitation
• There is variability in the patient’s awareness of their condition and what they can do themselves to manage well
• There is variability of patient knowledge of at what point they need to access increased levels of care/medication
• There is variability in patient’s being able to access or knowledge of how to access increased levels of care/medication through their GP.

It is really important that for people who live with respiratory conditions and the health care network to work together to support patients to keep as well as they possibly can. The engagement process has taught us that some patients are already comfortable in doing that for themselves, where others for a variety of reasons need more assistance.

The CCG has now started three projects, which have all been influenced by patient feedback:

1. We are going to provide education for newly diagnosed COPD patients. This is as a direct result of patient feedback about differing levels of knowledge and confidence in patients managing their condition.
2. Pulmonary Rehabilitation. From patients who had attended Pulmonary Rehabilitation, it was clear the value that it had made to their health and confidence. Together with the evidence from studies, it is a clear choice for us to seek to increase the number of patients starting and completing Pulmonary Rehabilitation. We are also producing a promotional film to inform and encourage patients to attend Pulmonary Rehabilitation when advised to, as well as working with the service to support more people to complete the course.
3. Beyond Pulmonary Rehabilitation. Many patients told us that continuing to be active, either through continuing the exercises they learnt at Rehab, joining a gym class or just going for a walk helped them to keep themselves well. In order to support more patients in continuing Rehab, we are working with the Pulmonary Rehabilitation team and Sheffield’s Health Trainer network so patients can see a Health Trainer and be supported in finding activity that will suit them best.

As a CCG, we are also taking the opportunity to improve care beyond these projects. For instance, this year, we have implemented a quality scheme with General Practices to support the consistency of the best practice management of asthma and COPD. The work of the CCG I have described here is just a start. Going forward, we will be working closely with the local hospitals and GP’s to implement services that are convenient for patients and help to maintain a high level of respiratory care across the city.

It is also worth noting that Sheffield CCG has learnt from some of the methods we have used in engaging with patients for Respiratory conditions, such as the use of Patient Opinion and running live feeds on Twitter. Patient Engagement is an area we are currently working hard on and are seeking to continually improve. This work has helped us to learn for future pieces of engagement.

 If you would like to follow the work of Sheffield CCG in future, you can find us online at www.sheffieldccg.nhs.uk or follow us on Twitter @NHSSheffieldCCG.

David Rowley