The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7407 p7
1 July 2006

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Lung disease is latest Government priority for NSF

Management of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is set to come under scrutiny following the announcement that a new national service framework is to be developed.

Plans for the national service framework (NSF) for COPD were set out by Secretary of State for Health Patricia Hewitt earlier this week. She said that the proposed NSF would seek to provide greater treatment choices for patients with COPD, to reduce inequalities in treatment and to improve standards of care.

An external reference group made up of health care professionals, service users, carers and health service managers will be established to develop the NSF. It will be jointly chaired by Peter Calverley, president of the British Thoracic Society, and Sue Hill, chief scientific officer at the Department of Health.

The announcement coincided with publication of a report by the Healthcare Commission calling for action to improve services for people with chronic lung conditions. The commission says that care for people with COPD has traditionally been given a low priority and that more accurate diagnosis and a more structured approach to care is needed.

The report concludes that primary care organisations and respiratory teams in hospitals need to develop new initiatives to reduce hospital admissions. “Initiatives should be integrated across primary and secondary care to take advantage of opportunities for early intervention to prevent readmission,” it states.

The British Thoracic Society has also published a report this week. Its report considers the burden of lung disease in the UK.