Supporting patients with COPD to self-care.
By 2030, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is projected to be the third leading cause of death worldwide (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016). Within the UK, it is estimated that around three million people are living with COPD in England alone, with two million of these unaware that they are living with the condition (Department of Health [DH], 2012).
It is the fifth biggest killer in the UK overall, causing about 30,000 deaths each year (DH, 2011). The condition itself is associated with considerable disability, impaired quality of life and high utilisation of healthcare resources.
Ground breaking nurse-led lung cancer project.
A recent independent evaluation of Liverpool’s Healthy Lung programme, undertaken by Queen Mary University of London and the University of Liverpool, found that this nurse-led programme is improving early detection of lung cancer and undiagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Liverpool’s healthy lung programme was launched in April 2016 by NHS Liverpool clinical commissioning group (CCG), working in partnership with local hospitals, NHS England, Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support as part of the national ACE programme, with the aim of finding and treating as many cases of lung cancer and COPD as possible, and as early as possible.
Raising awareness to reduce the burden of COPD.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the major causes of death in the UK and worldwide. Although public awareness has increased over the last 20 years, many people have still not heard of it or know about the symptoms and disability it causes. World COPD day was established by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) to raise awareness of the condition.
Why reading can support patients' health and wellbeing.
The number of people in the UK living with long-term health conditions is rising, increasing the pressure on primary care services and staff as well as impacting on the quality of life of those affected. Primary care professionals, such as general practice nurses (GPNs), are responsible for a huge amount of the day-to-day care and management planning for these patients. Providing quality-assured information and support is an important part of this role, as is helping people to develop the right skills and knowledge to support self-care and self-management.
National charity, The Reading Agency, works in partnership with public libraries to provide Reading Well Books on Prescription, i.e. carefully curated book lists of qualityassured health information and support, to help people to understand and manage a range of health conditions. This includes a new strand, launched in July 2017, which supports those living with long-term conditions, such as arthritis, bowel conditions, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
This summer has seen us celebrating 30 years of Education For Health, saying goodbye and good luck to our former CEO, Monica Fletcher, and extending a warm welcome to our new CEO, Dr Linda Edwards (see p. 8). Exciting times ahead, as we move into our next era.
Eight years ago I was thrilled to take up the opportunity to work at Education for Health, and now I feel privileged to also be taking on the role as editor-in-chief of this journal. As a GPN for over 20 years, I fully appreciate the imperative for keeping up to date and well informed. During the course of any one day, you can never be quite sure what problems will come through your door next. It’s what makes the role so interesting — but arduous too.
The workforce problems in general practice are well known. The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) survey of general practice nurses (GPNs) published in 2015 showed that of the sample responding to the survey, approximately a third were planning to retire by 2020. Even if this were not the case, there is already a shortage of trained GPNs, just at a time when demographic changes mean demand for skilled nursing in primary care is higher than ever.
Every stroke survivor deserves the chance to make their best possible recovery, and nurses have a crucial role to play in achieving this. The condition has a greater disability impact on an individual than any other chronic disease, and there’s no ‘one-sizefits all’ solution when it comes to supporting stroke survivors with their recovery.
Coronary heart disease is the UK’s biggest killer and has a devastating effect on families as well as placing extra cost and pressure on an already stretched healthcare system. Currently, there are around 155,000 deaths every year from heart and circulatory diseases, which includes heart attacks and strokes, accounting for over a quarter of all deaths in the UK. To add to this, there are around 491,000 hospital episodes related to coronary heart disease each year, and it is estimated that cardiovascular disease costs the UK economy around £15.2 billion each year.
Malnutrition (undernutrition) affects three million people in the UK (Brotherton et al, 2010) and is responsible for health and social care costs exceeding £19 billion annually in England alone, half of which is due to people over 65 (Elia, 2015). While it is accepted that good nutrition is important to maintain health, there is a general lack of responsibility and ownership around the problem of undernutrition in primary care. Lack of understanding, including how to identify and treat it is also widespread. Despite National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines stating that all healthcare professionals should be involved in nutritional screening and treatment (NICE, 2006), there are barriers stopping primary care nurses from screening, i.e. challenges of organisational culture and competing priorities (Green and James, 2013; Green et al, 2014).
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