Overview 

The NHS has set out plans for the next 10 years, identifying respiratory conditions as a key priority. Respiratory conditions affect the set of organs that allows a person to breathe and we will be investing to improve treatment and support for people with respiratory conditions in Barnsley

We are now developing local respiratory services for adults and we want to use the feedback from people who have used local respiratory services over the past three years and family members and carers to help us do this as well as from the professionals who work in and refer into local respiratory services. 

During August and September 2020, we asked for feedback from the people mentioned above about what they like about local services and how it has made a difference to their health and wellbeing (or the person they care for), what things they'd like to change and what else they think might make a difference to their health and wellbeing. We also wanted to hear what people thought of our plans outlined below.

Why we were asking for feedback?

We want to change the way we provide care for adults with respiratory conditions. 

We want more people to be seen, treated and supported to manage their respiratory conditions either at home or in clinics locally to where they live within the community, rather than in a hospital.

What is the current service like? 

The respiratory services in Barnsley are run by Barnsley Hospital and people requiring support will generally be seen by the team at the hospital. You might have heard it called the BREATHE service.  

The current BREATHE service is for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as well as people who need oxygen at home.

What are the plans for the new service and who is it for?

The plan is for the BREATHE team to come to people’s home, or for them to visit the team at a clinic which is near to where they live. It would be called BREATHE in the Community.

This service will be for:

• People with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• People who need oxygen at home, nebuliser assessment and early supported discharge from hospital.
• People who experience breathlessness due to pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (LRTI), long term chronic respiratory illness, cancer where you need support at the end of life).
• People who are receiving respiratory rehabilitation.

The BREATHE in the Community service is not for people who have heart failure, an acute chest infection, or those receiving pulmonary rehabilitation (which will remain unaffected). There are other services in place to support these people.

We are expanding the service for people in the community so that more people can benefit from specialist care in their own home or local to where they live. If people need a stay in hospital due to the nature or complexity of their condition this would still be available.

The current service is coming to the end of its contract and we are using this as an opportunity to review and make any necessary changes to it. 

We are proposing that BREATHE in the Community will be delivered by the specialist team in a clinic local to where people live, or in most cases in their home. The specialist team will include nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals. This approach will mean fewer people need to travel to, or stay, in hospital.

We want the service to work alongside people so they feel confident in managing their condition to stay well. The team will identify those who might need additional support at an early stage. They will work with other health and care workers and co-ordinate the right care and support.

There is likely to be more than one health or care specialist involved in an individual’s care. To make sure they all talk to each other the team will meet regularly and to discuss individual care plans.  This care plan is developed in partnership with patients and anyone in their support network they choose to be involved. Individual care plans will also be regularly reviewed to make sure it is working the best for the person they belong to.

What feedback have we had from local people so far to shape our plans for the new service? 

We have received feedback from people living in Barnsley about their experience of using services and what they would like to see offered in the future. From this we understand that:

• People prefer to be seen in, or locally to, their own homes where possible. In healthcare this is called “in the community”. Local clinics may be in a GP practice or other local healthcare building.
• People feel that healthcare services should work together in a joined up way (as one team) - care and support should be seamless and without barriers, with the person at the centre.
• People want to be supported and motivated to manage their long-term conditions (self-care).

What people told us about our proposals for the development of a new Respiratory Service for adults in Barnsley?

During August and September 2020, we asked people to feedback their views and comments on our proposals for the development of a new service model for respiratory services for adults in Barnsley and any recommendations for changes. People fed back on the proposals, provided direct feedback on their own experiences or posed questions for consideration.

Over the course of the past few weeks we have heard from over 50 people who have fed back to us either in person at one of the meetings or focus session that we have held, via one of the two surveys that we have hosted online and provided paper copies of (upon request) or via email or telephone call directly to the CCG.

The emerging themes from the conversations and feedback that we have received as part of this brief engagement period has helped to reinforce our direction of travel in relation to our proposals for the development of a new Respiratory Service for adults in Barnsley and to further inform the service specification.

This will also help to shape the development of the new service and we hope to continue the dialogue that we have established with the range of stakeholders highlighted within the engagement report which can be accessed here and also the follow up you said, our response report here 

On behalf of NHS Barnsley CCG, we would like to thank everyone who inputted into this work.