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Funding boost for new nursing roles to improve respiratory care

More than £300,000 from Scottish charity will help reduce hospital admissions and ensure patients receive the right care at all stages of respiratory illness

More than £300,000 from Scottish charity will help reduce hospital admissions and ensure patients receive the right care at all stages of respiratory illness

Picture: SPL

New specialist nursing roles are being created at four health boards in Scotland to help improve respiratory disease care in the community.

The pioneering posts are being made possible through funding of more than £300,000 from charity Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, which is working in partnership with NHS organisations.

Community respiratory team will tackle waiting list backlogs

The money includes £150,000 towards the development of a community respiratory team at NHS Grampian made up of band 6 and 7 nurses, healthcare support workers and a specialist GP.

Kris McLaughlin, GP and respiratory managed clinical network lead for NHS Grampian, said the new team would help reduce hospital admissions, tackle waiting list backlogs and ensure patients received the right care.

‘The team will tackle respiratory illness at all stages from early diagnosis, supported self-management, acute illness and chronic disease management in both primary and secondary care,’ he added.

Specialist nurse role will ‘support people to self-manage their conditions’

The funding also includes £53,000 for a specialist community respiratory nurse in NHS Highland.

Consultant respiratory physician Lorna Murray said the nurse would work closely with the health board’s community care team and respiratory ward teams.

‘This new role will help to improve responsive respiratory nursing care and reduce unscheduled care by supporting people and their families to self-manage their conditions,’ she said.

Funding will improve care pathways

A further £50,000 will be used to employ an advanced nurse practitioner in the role of respiratory pathway development lead at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, who will help to ensure smooth co-ordination between the NHS and other services.

Finally, £50,000 will fund an advanced nurse practitioner to become a respiratory clinical fellow at NHS Lothian.

The role will include delivering a ‘rapid access’ clinic at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to provide timely respiratory care and support, and prevent patients needing emergency treatment.

Pandemic has put strain on respiratory services

Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland chief executive Jane-Claire Judson said respiratory services had been badly affected by the pandemic and were under extreme pressure.

She added that the new roles would help improve links between hospitals, community care and the charity’s national Hospital to Home service, which provides support – including nurse-led rehabilitation – to people discharged with chest and heart conditions.


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