A Collaborative Working project to establish a “Tier 2” specialist treatment centre for patients with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD), working across two sites to deliver care closer to home and reduce healthcare inequalities across the East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust.

The collaboration is between Boehringer Ingelheim Limited (BIL), and East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT).

The project aims to implement a Tier 2 service in line with the National Care Pathway for ILD, across both Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals, with the additional resource of Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) clinical nurse specialists. The overall ambition is to enhance the quality of care by providing care closer to home, improve shared practices and ensure the sustainability and scalability of these standards across the region to achieve comprehensive ILD services.

ILD comprises a broad spectrum of conditions characterised by inflammation and/or fibrosis of the lung, leading to impaired gas exchange. One of the most common of these conditions is idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The NICE Quality standard for IPF specifies that services should be commissioned from and coordinated across all relevant organisations encompassing the whole IPF care pathway. A patient-centered, integrated approach to providing services is fundamental to delivering high-quality care to adults with IPF.

IPF is diagnosed via a complex care pathway that includes primary, secondary, and tertiary specialist care involvement. These complexities contribute to the delay between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis, with 40% of patients nationally waiting for more than 2 years to be diagnosed. Some individuals may also experience anxiety and depression whilst waiting and navigating a prolonged diagnostic pathway. This is in a specific type of ILD where the average survival is between 2 and 5 years. The reported all-cause mortality rate is 35%.

This Collaborative Working project aims to pilot the infrastructure required to transition non-specialist ILD centres into functioning Tier 2 ILD centres.

A.  Improve access to treatment across the ESNEFT:  A unified appointment system to ensure timely access to specialist clinicians.

B.  Reduce Waiting Times: Streamlining patient flow and prescribing locally in the specialist treatment centre, reducing referrals to a tertiary centre.

C.  Minimise Duplication:  Supporting the right test at the right time, reducing unnecessary appointments and diagnostic testing.

D.  Enhance Patient Experience: Improving continuity of care and closer to home.

This project will mobilise shared resources for a period of 18 months.

Boehringer Ingelheim is proud to be collaborating with ESNEFT to implement service improvements in line with the OneVoice ILD National Pathway and the NHS 10-year plan. These improvements will enhance the health and quality of patients’ lives as well as efficiencies within the NHS.

References:

1. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2015). Quality standard (QS79) Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in Adults. Available at  https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs79 (last accessed December 25)

2. British Thoracic Society. BTS ILD Registry Annual Report 2021. UK. https://www.brit-thoracic.org.uk/quality-improvement/lung-disease-registries/bts-ild-registry/ (last accessed December 25)

3. OneVoice ILD Care Pathway Report. Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis. https://www.actionpf.org/get-involved/transforming-ild-services (last accessed December 2025)