Respiratory services treat and manage diseases of the respiratory system, the breathing system. These conditions and diseases can include:

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• chronic bronchitis
• emphysema
• Other respiratory conditions such as bronchiectasis, asthma and lung fibrosis

Services in Rotherham, compared to other areas in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw, are facing some challenges:

• More patients are admitted to hospital, especially those with urgent medical needs linked to COPD, asthma, influenza and pneumonia
• Services between hospital and the community are not integrated
• We have a shortage of respiratory doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers
• Patients are not always getting the best outcome from the care they receive.

Whilst hospital is the best place to be for urgent and complex respiratory conditions, it is often better for patients to receive treatment and support in the community.

With this in mind, we are reviewing our respiratory services and have looked at best practice across the country to help us redesign services for patients in Rotherham.

The proposal for improving respiratory services is described in the animation below: 

The proposed new respiratory service model is available here. 

For a full report of the engagement activity click this link here.  During the sessions, people told us they wanted to be kept informed  of the work, they wanted to understand what other people were saying, and what was done with this.  We listened to their suggestions, and made sure that there was a display in place for COPD week, summarising what people had said and the actions taken.

 

Patient feedback on the new respiratory ward in Rotherham Hospital

During the engagement work patients raised concerns about the quality of care at TRFT for respiratory patients, based on previous experiences on other wards.  We have monitored FFT comments from May when the respiratory beds on A3 opened to November. This has given 158 responses, positivity of around 99% and over 100 comments. This has been shared with stakeholders and is being used to create a display in Breathing Space; with the intention of re-assuring patients that the quality of care will be maintained. This will be available from mid January 2020.