Right now, it’s an important time for health policy in the UK. We have a new government, and in a few months’ time there will be a new NHS 10-Year Plan that will guide health services through the next decade.
As you can imagine, the new Labour government is eager to make sure this plan is the best it can be, so they are seeking advice from everyone involved in healthcare – including support charities like Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis (APF). Our Policy and Public Affairs team have been busy sharing our suggestions with them through the NHS Change project, as it is vital that we make the most of this opportunity to shape the future of Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) care in the UK.
What did APF recommend?
We are committed to ensuring that the needs of those affected by pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is considered in all decision making, especially in an important strategy such as the NHS 10-year plan. The plan will be a large document that will look at the NHS as a whole system rather than focusing on specific diseases, so we raised challenges that affect wider respiratory services and made recommendations that we know will have a positive impact on PF care. We worked with the Taskforce for Lung Health (T4LH), Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and National Voices to share ideas on impactful recommendations and echo each other’s suggestions.
Over 1000 of our supporters gave feedback on PF care through the APF Lived Experience Survey and provided us with key insights into the major challenges people affected by PF face. Many of the system-level recommendations that we developed to address these challenges were outlined in the Optimum Integrated Care Pathway we published in April (please note this document is aimed at healthcare professionals).
By repeating these recommendations within the NHS Change project, we hope to ensure that these changes will be heard and included in the next official plan for NHS England.
Here are some of the key recommendations we made:
- We called for more spirometry tests (which measure lung function) to be available in local GP surgeries and community health centres. This would make it easier for people to get tested closer to home.
- We asked for more funding for pulmonary rehabilitation services across all regions to help people with PF manage their symptoms and avoid emergency hospital visits.
- We recommended that NHS England improve how it collects and uses data on PF and ILDs, so they can better plan and improve services. We also suggested using software to reduce the amount of paperwork that ILD nurses have to do, freeing them up to focus more on patient care.
What’s next for ILD services and the NHS 10-Year Plan?
The government will share the new NHS 10-Year Plan in April next year. If they include our recommendations, healthcare boards will be held responsible for making these changes happen within ILD services. APF will help them to make the short-term and long-term changes that the government has told them to make. Until then, we will continue to work with members of parliament and healthcare professionals to make PF services better.
We’re excited to see how the NHS listens to the needs of people with ILD and hope to see real improvements in the future. A shortened version of our submission will be made available soon.
If you have any questions about the ongoing work we are doing, please email policy@actionpf.org.