A collaborative working project to increase capacity for patients with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

The collaboration is between Boehringer Ingelheim Limited (BIL) and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (TRWT) to expand the capacity for treatment of Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) at TRWT, to facilitate an improved care pathway for ILD corresponding with NHS England’s plans for a National Consensus Pathway for integrated ILD care.

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 co-ordinated across all relevant organisations encompassing the whole IPF care pathway. A patient-centred, 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, and the all-cause mortality rate is 35%.

This Collaborative Working Project aims to expand the current services at New Cross Hospital with the objectives below.

A. Improve access to treatment across the TRWT: 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: Introduction of a Patient Navigator to support the right patient, 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 12 months.

Boehringer is proud to be collaborating with TRWT to implement this national consensus pathway, to improve both the health and quality of patients’ lives and 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 April 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 April 25)