Pulmonary Embolism

The British Thoracic Society has published its new Quality Standards for Outpatient Management of Pulmonary Embolism.  This follows the recent National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, ‘Know the Score’, 2019.  These standards aim to encourage the implementation and use of a high quality, patient-centred and evidence-based outpatient management pathway in all UK acute hospitals.

The new Quality Standards document is now available from the link below. Read the Respiratory Futures feature article here.

August 2020

On 10 October 2019, the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) published a review of the quality of care of adults diagnosed with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) in England and Wales: Know the Score.

The review identified several shortcomings in the outpatient management of acute PE, including:

• Low levels of patients were assessed for the severity of their PE
• Many low-risk patients have been given inpatient treatment rather than outpatient, conversely, many intermediate and high-risk patients were treated as outpatients instead of being admitted as inpatient
• Lack of availability of written information for patients
• Lack of follow-up in a significant proportion of patients.

BTS supports the NCEPOD report and its recommendations, and to help rectify the deficiencies in care identified in the report, and has now produced Quality Standards for Outpatient Management of Pulmonary Embolism in 2020.

Dr Robin Condliffe, consultant respiratory physician and Chair of the BTS Quality Standards Group, said: “The launch of the NCEPOD enquiry that led to this report was one of the drivers for the development of new BTS Quality Standards in this area. These will set the standards of care that should be met for the outpatient management of pulmonary embolism in the UK, together with measurable markers of good practice." 

"Together with the recommendations of the NCEPOD report, our standards will help improve the management of patients treated for acute PE in the UK.”

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