Children’s asthma services need to be commissioned in a seamless integrated fashion across the entire pathway from prevention and self-management to in hospital and out of hospital care. This section provides information, advice and resources to support those commissioning children’s asthma services.
Commissioners use commissioning for quality and innovation payments (CQUINS) to reward excellence for achievement of local quality improvement goals.
Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) Guidance for 2015/16 – NHS England
Improving Outcomes in Asthma – Asthma Care Bundle – British Thoracic Society and Asthma UK
CQUIN Schemes guide for prescribed specialised services for April 2016 to March 2017
Example CQUINs
Example CQUIN – St Georges Hospital
Smoking cessation CQUIN
This can be used for inpatients and outpatients in children over 13 as well as parents/carers.
Smoking status, brief advice given, referral to smoking cessation services should all be recorded preferably on a computerised system and direct referrals for children and carers at the time of the outpatient appointment or following initial assessment on admission to hospital. Ideally provision for self-referral should be made available so that children can have time to consider this at a later date if they are not ready. Some units are trialling the use of testing by Carbon Monoxide monitoring during clinics to improve identification of smokers.
Further information about smoking available in self-management section