Castle Hill respiratory team wins national award and is praised in Parliament

SUCCESS: The Respiratory team receiving their award last night

By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor

The respiratory team at Castle Hill Hospital are toasting twin achievements – winning a national award and having their groundbreaking work discussed in Parliament.

The FRONTIER project (2023-2025) – a collaborative initiative with UK biopharmaceutical company, Chiesi – has helped diagnose more than 500 people who didn’t know they had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

The project came about after the team, led by Professor Mike Crooks, identified a significant gap in diagnosis among people at high risk of COPD. Hull has high rates of deprivation and smoking and so is an area considered to have a high COPD prevalence.

As a result of the work, these patients have received an earlier diagnosis, treatment and access to specialist support.

Now the collaboration has been recognised with an Excellence in Patient Care award from the Royal College of Physicians, in the Sickness to Prevention category.

Innovation programme manager Nick Deayton said: “We work with data to identify people without known COPD but who’ve had other respiratory symptoms, like emphysema, which have been picked up through Hull’s Lung Cancer Screening programme.

“We invite those people to a ‘one stop’ clinic for assessment and respiratory tests. This helps us diagnose those with COPD more quickly, giving people access to different treatments and support including help to stop smoking, pulmonary rehabilitation and medication to improve lung health and quality of life.”

The FRONTIER project was also named as one to watch during a speech from MP Jim Shannon.

Speaking in Parliament, he said: “We have discussed the outstanding FRONTIER Hull trial with Professor Mike Crooks from Hull, who is piloting an integrated pathway that links screening findings to respiratory assessment and treatment in partnership with the NHS. I commend the work he is undertaking.

“I underline again that it has been shown that a one-stop diagnostic clinic is feasible, can be achieved and fits well with the three shifts. The approach can be tailored to meet local needs, helping integrated care systems to reduce hospital demand and improve patient outcomes.

“It has been estimated by Chiesi that integrating COPD case finding into lung cancer screening could save the NHS some £33 million over ten years. That saving cannot be ignored, especially at a time when every pound counts. If it is possible to save some £33 million, it should be in part because of the screening programme.

“I urge the Minister to look closely at the outcomes of the trial. This topic deserves a full debate; but more than that, it deserves an outcome. Screening saves lives, ultimately saves money and, importantly, saves needless heartbreak and pain. Let us invest in ourselves and in the process that we are discussing today.”