Uniting the respiratory neighbourhood to improve Winter outcomes
Project overview, including who was involved in the project
Several Lung health fairs were organised by myself with support from our admin team, respiratory team and locality practice nurses.The fairs were aimed at being accessible to all, and were chosen to be held within areas of deprivation within the locality.
Patients were asked to completed a form on entering to capture quality and outcomes framework (QOF) and help us target patients who needed a follow up in specific clinics we had organised.
Invites were sent via text message, local social media, and posters put up in close by locations.
Stall holders included Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), vaccines, inhaler technique's, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), blood pressure (BP) checks, local gyms, local housing groups, local smoke stop services, frailty team, targeted lung health teams and many more.
Seminars on keeping well in the winter with asthma and COPD were provided, along with talks from PR.
Project outcomes/impact
The attendance was way above what was anticipated, nearly 300 people for the first fair. The feedback from patients was very positive and all enjoyed the ease of being able to access everyone in one space, they found it easier than an appointment with their practice, some patients hadn't had a review for 5 years.Nearly 200 forms were completed, which covered a lot of QOF reviews, of these 43 patients were contact for follow ups with the team, including patients on incorrect inhalers, uncontrolled symptoms, recurrent exacerbations. 23 referrals' were made to PR. Twenty raised blood pressures were referred for follow up.
The desired outcome of reaching out to patients, and making ourselves accessible was achieved, and providing accessibility to individuals who wouldn't normally engage was a triumph, this also resulted in us following up those with the greatest risks who were seen by the team individually.
The appetite from patients for us to provide these fairs again has been noted, and will be part of our winter planning for subsequent years.
If you were to run the project again, what would you do differently?
It was difficult to gauge the amount of attendances we might get at the events, and the first fair we had underestimated the number attending, which meant we were turning people away to come back later. Subsequent fairs had staggered invite times, and less numbers invited- meaning we had to put on more fairs to cover all the surgery's.I would have a bigger hall, the amount of stall holders requesting to attend outstripped the capacity we had.
Enlisted more staff to help, and also include Patient Participation Groups from practices to help co-ordinate the event.
Advice you would have for others undertaking the same type of project.
Invite all your local respiratory related services, making the services known to patients was a key part of the fair success and was appreciated by the the attendees.Ensure you have capacity to follow up patients who need a more personalised review.