News

PCRS-UK News

HOLD THE DATE! 11th and 12th October 2013 PCRS-UK National Primary Care Conference

“Inspiring excellence locally: navigating the path to quality respiratory care” Telford International Centre, Telford

The next annual conference of the Primary Care Respiratory Society will be held on 11th and 12th October 2013. With a mix of practical, clinical and research sessions this conference promises to be an exciting event packed with relevant advice and guidance for those of us managing respiratory patients in primary care.

As ever, this meeting offers an excellent opportunity to meet and network with those who play an important role in the direction of respiratory medicine in primary care. Visit http://www.pcrs-uk.org/conferences/index.php for more information.

Why not start preparing your abstracts now, ready to submit in the early New Year and don't forget to think about your ideas on best practice that you may want to share with your colleagues.

PCRS-UK Quality Award Programme

PCRS-UK Quality Award — get the recognition you deserve

The PCRS-UK Quality Award is no ‘walk in the park’, but for those who participate it offers an opportunity to develop and bring together the team and focus on critical areas of development.

The Award, developed in conjunction with the British Thoracic Society, Royal College of General Practitioners, Association of Respiratory Nurse Specialists, Asthma UK, British Lung Foundation, Education for Heath and Respiratory Education UK, sets out the standards that best define high quality respiratory care in primary care, providing:

• Recognition of practices providing a high standard of respiratory care — serving as a quality assurance mark not only for patients, but also commissioning groups and the wider NHS.

• A developmental framework that can be used at practice, locality and national level to promote, support and reward quality respiratory care in the primary care setting.

We have comprehensive support material to guide you through each step of doing the award, and we are developing new suggestions for simple audits and other tips to help you through the process.

If you are interested in participating in the quality award visit the website at http://www.pcrs-uk.org/quality_award to register your interest (currently available only to UK-based PCRS-UK members) and receive your copy of our Getting Started publication to help you get prepared to participate.

Becoming a member of PCRS-UK

Whether you're a primary care nurse searching for tried and tested protocols, a GP looking for guidance on COPD diagnosis and management, or a respiratory specialist interested in the latest research, it pays to become a member of the Primary Care Respiratory Society UK. And with our new website offering new and improved functionality due to be launched in early 2013 there's never been a better time to join.

As a member you'll have unlimited access to a wealth of specialist respiratory care information including newly published resources such as our new opinion sheets on tailoring inhaler choice and cost-effective prescribing.

Join today and get the support of the UK's leading respiratory-care specialists

Membership packages available from as little as £27.00 per year

Great reasons to join PCRS-UK today

• Make life easier. Become a PCRS-UK member and discover a wealth of credible respiratory care information and resources all in one place

• Keep pace with developments. From COPD guideline changes to managing asthma, there's a best practice resource waiting for you

• Get help with professional development. Save time. It's ready to download and share with your practice staff

• Benefit from expert advice. From managing allergic rhinitis to using spirometry, you'll find a range of concise, easy-to follow Opinion Sheets available free exclusively to members of the society via our website

• Hard copy of the Primary Care Respiratory Journal. As the flagship publication of the PCRS-UK, this international academic journal provides all the latest primary care respiratory research and top class editorial comment, discussion and educational articles

• Read regular e-alerts. Get the latest respiratory information, news and updates, sent direct to your inbox.

IPCRG News

IPCRG working locally, collaborating globally

The IPCRG is moving into a new phase of work reaching new countries and new models of care. We are working closely with colleagues from Chile, Brazil, Eritrea and China to explore potential education and research projects to improve respiratory health.

Conferences

IPCRG 6th World Conference Webcasts

Webcasts from Edinburgh 2012 Breathing New Life are now available on our website: http://www.theipcrg.org/display/EVENTSEdinburgh/Edinburgh+2012+Webcasts

We encourage you to view these to catch up on what you missed.

IPCRG 7th World Conference

The Scientific Programme Committee for Athens 21–24 May 2014 is now formed, chaired by Ioanna Tsiligianni. The Committee members are:

• Chair: Ioanna Tsiligianni, Crete

• Christos Lionis (abstract lead), Crete

• Antonio Infantino, Italy

• Niels Chavannes, Netherlands

• Miguel Roman, Majorca

• Tan Tze Lee, Singapore

• Jim Reid, New Zealand

• Nick Zwar, Australia

We are working closely with the Editors of the Primary Care Respiratory Journal in the planning of abstract publication, and we are delighted to confirm that the PCRJ Award of €500 will once again be awarded to the best submitted abstract.

We will also shortly be inviting an International Advisory Panel to advise on topics and presenters for plenaries and workshops. If you would like to be involved in this decision process, please let us know.

We aim to use the location of the conference to promote high quality primary respiratory care in the Eastern Mediterranean region and to network with colleagues from this region.

We have appointed MCI Geneva as our Professional Conference Organiser who will provide the registration and abstract submission software. This will be tested first at our Third Scientific Meeting.

3rd IPCRG Scientific Meeting in Uppsala, Sweden 23–24 May 2013

Registration and abstract submission: opens 1 December 2012 Abstract deadline: 10 March 2013

The Uppsala meeting will be extended by a day to include Saturday 25th May for members of the Research Network to develop proposals for funding applications. If you wish to join the Research Network and contribute to these discussions, please let us know.

For more information see IPCRG website: www.theipcrg.org

Education

We were very encouraged that we will shortly be in a position to announce the successful applicants for round two of our E-Quality programme. We shortlisted bids from Brazil and Eritrea. These will be supported in addition to the continuation of our two existing E-Quality projects, transposition of Spirometry Fundamentals and Spirometry 360 from Washington to Adelaide, and multi-method evaluation of an asthma education programme in Pune India for GPs who do not prescribe inhaled medicines.

Research

The first E-faculty visit has now been made to Chile by our Spanish member, GRAP Spain, to support their colleagues in newly established Chilean GRAP to develop primary care research, supported by the Ministry of Health. There will be three workstreams: epidemiological surveys; improvement in COPD care — led by the primary care physiotherapists; and improvement in asthma care in the under-5s. The under 5s research will build on the experience of highly successful vertical programmes for tackling childhood respiratory infection that already exist and have led to significant reductions in childhood mortality.

FRESH AIR Uganda is in the data analysis phase. A TV documentary has been commissioned. We are responding to interest in the FRESH AIR protocol from Kyrgyzstan, India and China.

Our UNLOCK programme has five projects underway that are analysing multi-national data on cohorts of patients with COPD to answer important questions for primary care. The UNLOCK group has now agreed to extend into asthma. The UNLOCK group can draw on 22,000 COPD records and 115,000 asthma records and has real potential to achieve rapid answers to useful questions for primary care.

External affairs

We are in discussions with The Union to optimise the use of the Asthma Drug Facility and to build the case for inhaled medicines to be redesignated by the World Health Organisation as a “best buy.”

As the Respiratory Special Interest Group of WONCA Europe, we will be running four respiratory workshops at the WONCA Europe and World conference in Prague in 2013. We are also building on this experience to propose workshops for the next Nordic conference of family medicine.

Working with the ERS we have written the primary care chapter of the New ERS White Book, and are collaborating on a survey on rare lung diseases, the findings of which will inform the development of guidance for primary care on the detection of rare lung disease.

IPCRG web platform

We will be making contact with all colleagues on our database to register for our website www.theipcrg.org which then enables you to create discussion forums and to comment on existing forums and blog posts.

Contact: Sam Louw — BusinessManager@theipcrg.org

Siân Williams

Executive Officer

ERS General Practice and Primary Care Group 1.6 news

ERS Congress, Vienna, 1st-5th September 2012

Group Members' Meeting

This took place on Monday 3rd September. Many thanks indeed to everyone who attended. Bjorn Stallberg has been elected as Chair and Hilary Pinnock as Secretary for the next three years in Group 1.6.

PCRJ Award for the best quality abstract submitted to Group 1.6

Worth €500, and kindly funded by the Primary Care Respiratory Journal, the PCRJ Award is presented each year to the authors of the best abstract submitted to Group 1.6 of the ERS. From a shortlist of seven (see the News section of the September issue), the following three abstracts were highly commended:

Abstract Number: 3635

Title: Lower incidence of asthma exacerbations with FENO-guided anti-inflammatory treatment: A randomised controlled trial

Jörgen Syk, Andrei Malinovschi, Gunnar Johansson, Anna-Lena Undén, Kjell Alving. Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

Abstract Number: 3627

Title: Adherence to a maintenance exercise programme 1 year after pulmonary rehabilitation: What are the predictors of dropout?

Ankie Heerema-Poelman, Johan Wempe, Ilse Stuive. University Medical Center, Groningen, Netherlands.

Abstract Number: 4990

Title: Are disease management programs for COPD cost-effective?

Melinde Boland, Apostolos Tsiachristas, Annemarije Kruis, Niels

Chavannes, Maureen Rutten-van Mölken. Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.

And the winner of the 2012 ERS Group 1.6 PCRJ Award was:

Abstract Number: 1434

Title: More than 50% of patients visit a general practitioner (GP), general physician (Gen P) or a pediatrician (P) in India for respiratory symptoms: Results of a one-day point-prevalence study in 2,04,912 patients across 22 states and 5 union territories in India

Komalkirti Apte, Monica Barnes, Sapna Madas, Jaideep Gogtay, Sushmeeta Chhowala, Nadar Mahajan and Sundeep Salvi. Chest Research Foundation, Pune, Maharashtra, India; CIPLA LTD, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Many congratulations to Dr Apte and her colleagues!

ERS 2013

The next ERS meeting is in Barcelona 7–11th September. There will be a special Primary Care Day on Saturday 7th September.

Deadline for abstract submission is 21st February 2013. You will find all information about abstract submission at the ERS website, www.ersnet.org You are welcome to send your abstract on behalf of Group 1.6, which will enable us to realise higher numbers of primary care slots within ERS.

Joining the ERS

Are you an ERS member? If you're not and you regularly attend the ERS Congress, why not join the ERS and receive all the membership benefits? If you are thinking of joining, please ensure that you join Group 1.6, the General Practice and Primary Care Group.

Niels Chavannes, Chair Group 1.6

Bjorn Stallberg, Secretary Group 1.6

National Childbirth Trust (NCT) News

Reducing respiratory illness by increasing breastfeeding rates

Reducing the cost of treating respiratory illness is an on-going challenge, but Unicef's recent report Preventing disease and saving resources: the potential contribution of increasing breastfeeding rates in the UK (http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Baby_Friendly/Research/Preventing_disease_saving_resources.pdf?epslanguage=en) includes strong evidence that moderate increases in breastfeeding could directly reduce costs associated with treating babies with respiratory infections, and suggests that investment in effective services to increase and sustain breastfeeding rates would be likely to provide a return on investment in as little as one year. If 45% of babies were exclusively breastfed for four months, and if 75% of babies discharged from neonatal units were breastfed at discharge, each year there would be 5,916 fewer babies hospitalised with respiratory illness, and 22,248 fewer GP consultations, saving around £6.7 million.

90% of mothers who stop breastfeeding in the first six weeks discontinue before they are ready to. Services which focus effective support for all new mothers including breastfeeding counselling, peer support and BabyCafe, are available from NCT.

PCRJ readers interested in finding out more about the NCT are welcome to contact candy.perry@nct.org.uk

Candy Perry, Director of Healthcare Business Development at NCT