BTS welcomes the GIRFT Respiratory Medicine report

Whilst the report emphasises that respiratory teams deliver high quality and innovative patient-centred care across the country, it makes starkly evident, chapter after chapter, the fact that they are in dire need of more staff and resources, something that BTS has been highlighting for many years.

Respiratory patients and the teams that support them have been forgotten in the allocation of equitable resource for a long time, and the report unambiguously highlights the consequences of this oversight. We are however heartened by all the examples of good practice and the emphasis that GIRFT has placed upon improving care further, together with the absolute need for appropriate resourcing.

Patients have better outcomes, are discharged more quickly and face fewer readmissions when they are cared by staff with the right skills to treat them. However, GIRFT found only 10 trusts where over 70% of patients with respiratory conditions were in the care of a respiratory team, with the average being 38%.

The report advances a number of reasons for this, with the bottom line being that there are simply not enough respiratory healthcare professionals in proportion to the number of patients admitted with respiratory conditions. This is now being compounded by COVID-19.

Respiratory professionals have, and continue to deliver tireless and selfless efforts, above and beyond their call, to provide the best care for their patients despite the lack of resources, but such commitment should be the preserve of exceptional times, not a standard expectation.

Today we add our voice to that of GIRFT to call for urgent action to ensure that the recommended solutions are addressed without delay.

Commenting on the report, Professor Jon Bennett, BTS Chair, said:

“Many, like myself, will see this report as a celebration of all the hard work that my colleagues put into caring for often disadvantaged or deprived patients with respiratory disease, but it is tempered by frustration. Sadly, the report highlights how the systemic under resourcing that respiratory teams and thus our patients face, has never been addressed. This despite BTS and respiratory services repeatedly alerting the NHS about it.

“We are used to ‘working smart’ but the recommendations that will have the highest impact on patient care are undoubtedly those around better work planning, and increasing staff training and recruitment. We need more skilled professionals at all levels in the respiratory workforce.

“I am also particularly pleased to see Respiratory Support Units being endorsed. These highly specialised units with their dedicated staff provided enhanced respiratory support to the most ill people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as GIRFT reported, freed thousands of intensive care beds. Their impact will extend on everyday respiratory care and they will be a key asset in dealing with the annual winter pressures.”

The report can be found on the GIRFT website, but might require registration.