Respiratory medicine: GIRFT Programme National Specialty Report (September 2021)

Summary

Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) is designed to improve the quality of care within the NHS by reducing unwarranted variations. By tackling variations in the way services are delivered across the NHS, and by sharing best practice between trusts, GIRFT identifies changes that will help improve care and patient outcomes, as well as delivering efficiencies such as the reduction of unnecessary procedures and cost savings.

Content

The rate of hospital admissions for respiratory conditions is growing by 12% each year, and even before the COVID-19 pandemic, respiratory conditions accounted for a third of acute admissions. This report makes 26 recommendations to improve respiratory services against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, including:

• establishing respiratory support units (RSUs) to provide the best possible care for COVID-19 and post-COVID patients.
• developing a sustainable plan to deal with winter surges in admissions.
• more provision of life-saving non-invasive ventilation (NIV) services.

You will need a FutureNHS account to view this report, or you can watch a short video summary of the report which includes key recommendations.