Hertfordshire respiratory service partnership wins regional NHS Excellence Award
Congratulations to our Community Respiratory Service in Hertfordshire, who were nominated alongside Hospice of St Francis and West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust becoming regional champion for the ‘Working in Partnership’ category of the NHS Excellence Awards.
A collaboration between partners enabled patients with end-stage interstitial lung disease (ILD) to die peacefully at home through the provision of heated humidified high flow nasal oxygen).
Many patients with end-stage ILD needed high levels of oxygen and wanted to die at home, not in hospital. The respiratory team introduced high flow oxygen through a nasal device to make this possible.
They worked closely with palliative care teams at St Francis Hospice and hospital teams at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, forming a cross-organisational ‘Heated Humidified Oxygen Therapy’ team, combining acute respiratory, palliative care, and community respiratory services. Together, they were able to safely transfer the first patients to their homes.
For 20 patients, the team avoided hospital stays and saved over £750,000 (approx.) in bed days. Admissions are falling, and fewer people with interstitial lung disease are dying in hospital (56 in 2023, 46 in 2024, 39 in 2025). This work supports the NHS long term plan to shift from hospital to home.
Maria Buxton, Consultant Respiratory Physiotherapist & Service Lead at CLCH, said: "We’re gaining the trust of patients struggling with breathlessness and lack of oxygen, so they can live and die at home, with as good a death as possible. We can keep things going in the home, knowing we have a close and trusted the relationship with the palliative care team, who give us the support we need. It's not only about the device that enables us to give the support we're giving, the heart of this is us all working together to give patients dignity in death."
The NHS Excellence Awards, which are linked to the ambitions of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, recognise outstanding practice across ten award categories. Champions were selected from over 2,500 entries submitted by NHS organisations across the country.
All regional champions will now progress to the national finals, with winners announced at NHS ConfedExpo in June.
