COPD-PPP. The last year of life in COPD: prognostication, preparation, palliation. (360G-Wellcome-107183_Z_15_Z)

Patients with advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) have significant morbidity, poor quality of life and high mortality. As such, they are likely to be well served by a palliative care approach, but many fail to access palliative care services. One reason for this is that COPD commonly has an unpredictable disease trajectory, making identification of those in the last year of life difficult. This study will create a prognostic tool to help identify patients with COPD in the l ast year of life through use of electronic health records (GP records linked to hospital records). We will use this model to identify patients with advanced COPD and explore their experiences through interviews. We will use qualitative methodology to identify barriers and facilitators to accessing palliative care both from the perspective of patients and health care professionals. Drawing these streams together with further stakeholder input we will produce recommendations on how services should be redesigned to better meet the needs of patients with advanced COPD.