1. What condition do you suffer with?
If you have access to your medical records then check it says Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). In the past this used to be called Emphysema or Chronic Bronchitis.
2. What does COPD mean?
Here are some links for COPD which you may find interesting
3. What help is available for you to use?
- Your doctor or nurse would be happy to advise you about your condition. Here is some really good advice on what to do before you come and see the doctor or nurse.
- In general the nurse deals with ongoing COPD including developing a personalised care pathway with you and showing you how to use your inhalers, ensuring you are uptodate with your vaccinations and doing repeat spirometry for you.
- Your GP usually deals with any exacerbations you may suffer with and followup if needed urgently if you have needed rescue medication or needed to go to the hospital or cal the Out of Hours service, They can also ensure you get repeat antibiotics and steroids if you have needed to use them.
- Make sure you remember to get your flu injection. You will also need a pneumococcal injection once every 10 years too.
- It is important to know how to get an appointment with a doctor in the surgery if you need it. We do telephone triage over the phone to determine whether the problem can be solved over the phone rather than having to come to the surgery. If it is out of hours and you are not sure what to do then click here to see what options you have.
- Smoking cessation services are available in the practice and also by the smoking cessation service. Please speak to the receptionist who can inform you about the service available or you can go online here.
- Watch this series of videos to ensure your inhaler technique is correct
- Breathe Easy Tameside run by the British Lung Foundation provides essential self help support and advice and is headed by Ian Kenworthy, a local COPD champion.
- Pulmonary rehabilitation is very beneficial for all COPD patients. See a video on what this means
- Try the COPD decision aid which informs you about what choices you can make, what the benefits or otherwise are for you and help you to decide what to do next.
- Use the Patient Passport to ensure you get the best COPD care
4. What does COPD mean for you?
You need to know that you have
stopped smoking or where to get
help to stop smoking if you are still doing so. You should have your
flu injection annually. It is important to know
what inhalers you should be taking and
how to take them. If you have been given
antibiotics and
steroids to keep at home then you should know what
the first symptoms of a chest infection are so that you can
start the treatment immediately and then
order repeat prescriptions to replace what you have used. If you are also on oxygen then you should know how to get help if you have
problems with your oxygen. You should ensure you have
spirometry done at least annually including a note of your
MRC Dyspnoea Scale and have a
personalised care plan that has been reviewed with your nurse or doctor. You should have been on
pulmonary rehabilitation to help you to safely exercise. Patients with COPD can often suffer with
anxiety,
depression, panic disorder and
loneliness.
5. What needs to happen now and in the future?
You should have your
flu injection once a year. You should have an
annual review of your COPD once a year with your nurse which should include a
review of your personal care plan,
review of inhalers and
inhaler technique,
smoking advice, pulmonary rehabilitation and
information about self-help groups such as
Breathe-Easy that may also be able to help you too. You should also discuss how you feel about your condition and whether you feel
anxious,
depressed or
lonely.
6. What can you do to help?
As this is a new way of working, it is worth discussing this with the nurse to see how this can be done the first time you decide to take control.
7. How are we doing?
The Quality Outcomes Framework was set up so that practices can look at how successful they are in delivering services to their practice population and also give an opportunity to see how we compare with others around the country. This data is readily available from here (
www.qof.ic.nhs.uk/search.asp). Overall we got 999.24 points out of a maximum of 1000 last year indicating that we are a very high performing practice across the board which is reassuring for you and us. We achieved a maximum score in the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease domain gaining all 30 points that were allocated for this. Although we performed spectacularly, there is still some room for improvement. For instance, did you get your flu injection last year. Are you ready to get it this year? If you were diagnosed with COPD this year then was it diagnosed following spirometry? Have you had your spirometry repeated this year if you have had COPD for over 1 year? These are all markers of good quality care for all patients with COPD.
8. How can you help us do even better for you and other patients too?
This is very important. In your journey of discovery about your health, you may come across odd things that do not make sense about the way the practice runs and you may have a better suggestion. Or you may come across something new that we have not considered that helps you even more. Tell us about it next time you see a clinician or preferably write it down and hand it in or send it as a comment to the Patient Participation Group (PPG) so that they can bring it up with the practice the next time we meet up. Even better, why don’t you join the PPG and become an active member. We are always on the look out for new members and new ideas.
.jpg)
