Health Minister Simon Burns visits Chelsea and Westminster

Photo (above): Heather Lawrence (Chief Executive), Dr Dilys Lai (Consultant Physician), Minister for Health Simon Burns, patient Christopher Coe, Professor Sir Christopher Edwards (Chairman), Dame Helena Shovelton (Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation) and Professor Derek Bell (Director of CLAHRC)

Photo (right): Mitch Haines (Matron) and Lesley-Anne Marke (Sister) with Simon Burns

Health Minister Simon Burns visited Chelsea and Westminster Hospital yesterday (17 May) to hear about the implementation of a new ‘care bundle’ approach to the treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which has been proven to reduce the readmission of patients to hospital.

He was joined by Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, Dame Helena Shovelton.

The care bundle approach was developed and piloted at the hospital through a project funded by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for Northwest London and now involves several other hospitals in the capital.

The groundbreaking project is also attracting international attention and was the focus of a visit from World Health Organisation (WHO) delegates in February.

Chief Executive Heather Lawrence said: “We were delighted to welcome Simon Burns and Dame Helena Shovelton to demonstrate the innovative work being carried out by our multi-disciplinary team and how it is benefiting our patients.”

The visit was hosted by Director of CLAHRC, Professor Derek Bell, and Clinical Lead for the COPD care bundle, Consultant Physician Dr Dilys Lai.

Health Minister Simon Burns said: "It was great to see first hand the excellent work the team at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital are doing on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

“The dedicated team of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists have been putting the latest recommendations into practice and as a result have seen excellent results in terms of treating patients with COPD.

“I am confident that patients at Chelsea and Westminster with lung disease are receiving first class care.”

Professor Bell said: “The new care bundle approach to treating COPD was developed and piloted at Chelsea and Westminster by a multi-disciplinary team, funded by CLAHRC for Northwest London, and is showing benefits.

“As the care bundle has been rolled out to the other acute sites in Northwest London, results have shown a reduction in readmission rates and a difference between hospitals using the bundle compared to those not yet participating.”

Initial research published in the journal Thorax has shown that, following implementation of the care bundle at Chelsea and Westminster, fewer patients were readmitted to hospital within 30 days of a stay in hospital—11% of 94 patients on the care bundle compared with 16.4% of 365 patients not on the bundle.