What are the challenges of home spirometry for ILD during COVID-19?
The British Lung Foundation (BLF) and Asthma UK recently issued its report “Recovery and reset for respiratory: restoring and improving basic care for patients with lung disease” which highlights the enormous impact of COVID-19 on the care of patients with respiratory conditions. The report makes recommendations for changes to health services to meet the ongoing care needs of people with respiratory disease, including the specific advice:
“The NHS should pilot the use of home spirometers with other respiratory patient groups including those with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).”
In June 2020 NHS England announced funding for every person with cystic fibrosis over the age of six to have access to home spirometry to monitor lung function. Home monitoring for patients with cystic fibrosis positively impacts hospital admission, quality of life and exacerbation frequency. The BLF and Asthma UK recommend there could be significant benefit to funding and trialing the use of home spirometers with patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), in line with the COVID-19 rapid NICE guideline for ILD.
patientMpower are experienced providers of specialist virtual healthcare home monitoring software (including home spirometry) for patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILD). Our ILD platform is in clinical use in multiple centres internationally and we have conducted clinical studies in ILD patients demonstrating the feasibility and acceptability of the platform. The patientMpower software was recently approved by NHSX and is available across the NHS.
patientMpower strongly supports the BLF and Asthma UK in their recommendation to improve access to home spirometry. We are committed to working with partners in ILD care to advocate for continuity of care for this vulnerable patient group, and confirm the significant benefits of home monitoring in ILD.
You can read the full British Lung Foundation report here.
Watch the patientMpower ILD patient and physician case study here:
About patientMpower
patientMpower is an experienced provider of virtual healthcare solutions for a number of respiratory, kidney and heart conditions including COPD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other interstitial lung diseases (ILD), lung transplant, cystic fibrosis (CF), kidney transplant and heart failure.
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