Improving communication between primary and secondary care for children and young people with difficult asthma. (ID 474)
Black Country Integrated Care Board
Funding: None
Abstract
BackgroundNHS England National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People (CYP) with Asthma (2021) highlights the need for integrated care to improve outcomes for CYP with asthma. Following discussions about a child with difficult asthma for whom the whole picture was not fully understood, the authors identified communication problems existing between primary and secondary care when managing CYP with difficult /high-risk asthma. Primary Care have unique knowledge of their patients, e.g. knowledge of acute episodes, prescribing history and family dynamics, which may not be conveyed to other professionals. Gaps in care may emerge if it is not clear what has happened in the patient journey between hospital appointments.
Aim
To trial a tool to facilitate detailed correspondence regarding children with difficult asthma, thus improving communication.
Method
A small team including a General Practice Nurse Practitioner, a CYP Specialist Asthma Nurse, Paediatric Consultant and a Paediatric Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist worked collaboratively to create a communication form and agreed an implementation process.
Findings
We found that using the form helped to prompt the user to include information which might not normally be conveyed thus providing a comprehensive picture of the child and family and aiding in secondary care management.
Early evaluation within the team suggests that this will reduce gaps in care and aid holistic understanding to support high quality, joined-up care for children with difficult asthma.
Next steps
We are developing a template to include in responding Secondary Care letters allowing this to become a two-way communication process.
We plan to pilot this with twenty children with difficult asthma before evaluating and refining further before implementing across the Black Country Integrated Care System. Our evaluation will document patient and family experience.
NHS England (2021) National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People (CYP) with Asthma.
Conflicts of interest: None
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