Working alongside clinical commissioning groups, primary care networks and acute trusts, the West of England AHSN is pleased to confirm four applications to the NHS Pathway Transformation Fund (PTF) have been successful across the region. One of the successful applications was developed jointly with the South West AHSN region, with funding therefore available to the entire South West of England.
AHSNs are a key member of the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), the umbrella organisation for UK health innovation. As part of our support to the AAC, AHSNs are driving adoption of a number of transformative technologies and medicines via the Rapid Uptake Products (RUP) programme.
The RUP programme has been designed to support stronger adoption and spread of proven innovations. It identifies and supports products with NICE approval that support the NHS Long Term Plan’s key clinical priorities, but have lower than expected uptake to date. The PTF is available to help NHS organisations integrate selected Rapid Uptake Products into everyday practices and to overcome barriers to deploying them.
In this PTF round, the following innovations are being supported through the Rapid Uptake Products (RUP) Programme for 2021/22:
- Lipid Management: High Intensity Statins, Ezetimibe and PCSK9 inhibitors: The Rapid Uptake Product (RUP) for lipid management is a novel, NICE-approved clinical pathway. This innovation aims to improve a person’s lipid profile, by reducing cholesterol concentration in blood by treating patients with the right medicine along the evidence-based pathway. The pathway includes three medicines: high intensity statins (HIST), ezetimibe, and PCSK9 inhibitors (continued from 2019/20).
- Measuring fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) concentration in asthma: products NIOX VERO and NObreath: FeNO (fractional exhaled nitric oxide) is a point of care test to measure type two inflammation in airways, which augments and supports the accuracy of asthma diagnosis. The aim of this innovation will be to improve patient care and outcomes by more effective diagnosis of patients suspected of having asthma.
- Biologics for treating severe asthma: Reslizumab, Benralizumab, Mepolizumab and Omalizumab: Biological therapies can transform patient lives by reducing long-term side effects of other treatments (e.g. oral corticosteroids (OCS)) and can also reduce the number of exacerbations and life-threatening asthma attacks. The aim of this innovation will be to improve patient care and outcomes by providing a better treatment option for patients with severe asthma.
PTF awarded
The four successful PTF applications in the West of England region are:
- Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire CCG – Measuring fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) concentration in asthma. This involves all GP Practices across the BSW region enabling local access to FeNO Testing reducing visits to hospitals.
- Gloucestershire CCG – Measuring fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) concentration in asthma. This involves one locality of Gloucestershire covering 19 GP practices providing local access to FeNO Testing.
- Gloucestershire CCG and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – Lipid Optimisation. Working with five GP practices we will use search options within practice databases to identify patients at risk of raised cholesterol who would benefit from a detailed medication review.
- West of England and South West AHSN regions – Biologics for treating severe asthma. The South West Severe Asthma Network, from Cornwall to Swindon, will work with all hospitals to create a common pathway for managing asthma care streamlining the process of referral to severe asthma centres and access to asthma biologic therapy.
Clare Evans, Deputy Director of Service and System Transformation said:
“We’re really pleased that four applications to this year’s PTF have been successful across our region. It’s particularly positive that each of the three RUP in this year’s programme will receive additional funding and support to drive adoption and spread across the West of England. We will now start to work with each project team to support them in the adoption and spread of these vital products.”
You can read more about how AHSNs support the Accelerated Access Collaborative here.
Posted on June 7, 2021
