Respiratory Diseases: Health Services
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the potential impact of increasing national pulmonary rehabilitation referral rates on (a) clinical outcomes for patients, (b) NHS emergency admission rates, and (c) economic productivity lost to respiratory-related illness and caring responsibilities.
Answered by Karin Smyth
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a clinically proven intervention that improves outcomes and reduces hospital admissions for people with chronic respiratory conditions. Health Education England reported in 2022 that increasing access to PR for people with lung conditions could save NHS England £69 million every year and see a reduction of 150,924 general practice appointments, and 26,633 fewer hospital admissions per year. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Respiratory%20Disease%20Report.pdf
NHS England has additionally recently published guidance on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biologics that reiterates the need for PR to be taken into account when planning care for people with COPD. This provides cost and health benefit information for integrated care boards to help create business cases for setting up COPD services. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/business-case-guidance-copd-biologics/
NHS England holds a quarterly PR steering group that provides direction, challenge and support for decision-making, and monitors progress against set metrics as reported through the national respiratory audit programme. Further information is available at the following link:
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