Pulmonary rehabilitation in the United Kingdom

We audited the UK provision of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the quality of the programmes provided against national standards. All eligible UK Acute Trusts were invited to participate in a national audit of COPD in 2008. Eleven quality indicators for PR were derived from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the British Thoracic Society guidelines. Participants provided details of staff involved in their programme to self-assess whether they met each quality indicator in full, partially or not at all. Data were collected using a bespoke Web tool. Data were received from 239 acute units, a trust participation rate of 98%. Of the 239 units, 138 (58%) had provision of PR for all eligible patients and 76 (32%) for some but not all patients. Of these 214 PR, 13 (6%) programmes met all 11 quality indicators in full, median 8 with an interquartile range (IQR) of 7-9 for all PR programmes. One third of the programmes fully met the standards that continuation PR phases be provided, staff be trained in resuscitation and services be fully audited. Despite widespread provision of PR in the UK, the quality of programmes is variable and often less than satisfactory. Lack of funding is cited as a primary barrier to all eligible COPD patients not receiving PR. Those responsible for PR must act to improve the quality of services and audit their effectiveness before service expansion to meet future demand that can be justified.