Service to aid with breathing expands

Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) is one of the first NHS trusts in the country to provide this care for both children and young adults.

The Complex Needs Rapid Response Respiratory Service supports patients who have complex physical disabilities and additional respiratory problems by providing specialist assessment, management plans and training for families, carers and schools. The team also provides rapid response to patients when they become unwell to support them at home as early as possible, keeping them out of hospital.

The team won The Council of Allied Health Professions Research Award for Evaluating Health and Social Care Practice at the Advancing Healthcare Awards in October 2020.

Katie Clements, allied health professional and children’s services clinical lead, said: “This is such an exciting time for the service. It means so much for us to be one of the first NHS trusts to be able to provide this kind of support for both adults and children.

“Since we launched the Rapid Response Respiratory Service for children, we have seen improvements in the quality of care we can offer our patients and their families and reductions in the demand on GPs, A&E departments and hospital admissions. Our children’s service has been shortlisted and won national awards so we’re extremely pleased that with the additional funding we’ll be able to extend the service for people up to 25 years old.”

The new service is available to children and adults up to 25 years old with significant long-term physical disabilities who are predominantly wheelchair dependent or have very limited mobility, who have repeated chest infections and children and adults up to 25 years old with long-term ventilation needs.

Patients and their carers can contact the service to self-refer by calling 01522 309025.