KGH wins award for innovative lung treatment

The respiratory team at KGH won an award for innovation

KGH's respiratory team won a prestigious award last night (Wednesday) for an innovative lung treatment which reduces the amount of time patients need to spend in hospital.

The team has won the Royal College of Physicians' (RCP) Excellence in Patient Care Award for innovation for their ambulatory pneumothorax service and will receive £1,000, a commemorative plaque and promotion of their winning project by the RCP.

Dr Raja Reddy, a consultant on the respiratory team, said: "We are delighted. This is recognition of six years of work our team has made in developing the pneumothorax services at KGH for the benefit of our patients.

"It recognises the way we have committed to improving the service at every opportunity."

The ambulatory pneumothorax service was set up in 2013 and treats people with a condition where air is leaking from the lung, which can cause lung collapse and breathlessness.

Normally patients with this condition need to be admitted to hospital and have a chest drain inserted and stay in hospital until it healed, sometimes up to two weeks.

KGH's respiratory team developed a new way of treating this condition, Dr Reddy said: "What is innovative is that many patients can be discharged home directly from A&E after chest drain insertion.

"They can then come in and see the consultant or the specialist nurse as an outpatient in our Ambulatory Care Unit."

The service means no overnight stays for patients with this condition and it can be used to treat primary cases in younger patients and milder secondary cases in older patients, who often have underlying lung disease.

The respiratory team that runs the service includes Dr Reddy, consultants Dr George Tsaknis, Dr Muhammad Naeem, and pleural nurse specialists Samantha Rawson and Lesley Holland.

The service is still running through the pandemic but with a few differences. X-Rays are being performed in off-site outpatient locations and follow-up consultations with patients by telephone and hospital visits where necessary.