The Southampton COPD group and Southampton COPD Community Partnerships are actively involved in a number of research areas. We focus on research projects that we believe will make the greatest impact on the lives of our COPD patients.

We currently run studies investigating:

• Pathway design and service reconfiguration
• Using a large cohort to study the cause of COPD exacerbations
• New medicinal products in phase II-IV studies
• The contribution and intervention of nutrition, activity and lifestyle.

The integration of our clinical and research teams increases our capacity to deliver care to our patients and helps push the boundaries of current knowledge. Patients engage with these research programs because they feel it benefits not only them, but contributes towards medical knowledge to help others with the disease.

1. Innovation in service delivery

In 2010 The Health Foundation awarded us a research grant under their SHINE award scheme. This innovation project had 2 objectives; the first to improve the diagnosis of COPD in Southampton City PCT and the second was to reduce the rate of admissions to Southampton Hospital.

By working closely with practices within the city to improve the diagnostic rate through education the prevalence rate increased by 50% during a 12-month period. The second objective was achieved by cohorting the frequent flyer population (>3 admissions per year) and formulating a bespoke intervention package. This intervention reduced our overall admission rate by almost 20%. Details of this project are available on request. We continue to innovate in a number of key areas from pathway delivery and primary care partnerships to acute pulmonary rehabilitation projects. We are a key site in delivering work for the Department Of Health under their Lung Improvement Program.

The team won the prestigious 2011 HSJ award for acute and primary care innovation for this work.

Read our press release

2. Basic Science Research

The Southampton COPD group is leading the way in investigating the cause of infectious exacerbation sponsored by GSK The aim of this study is to generate epidemiological data to further explore determinants of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and the contribution of bacterial and viral pathogens to Acute Exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) episodes. Details can be found here.

3. Phase II-IV Studies 

The group also has a strong track record in delivering IMP studies for industry. In the last year we have been the largest UK recruiters to some major global studies in COPD.

4. Primary care research

The southampton COPD team has been busy in 2 surgeries in Southampton City. The first surgery was a screening programme of 45-65 year old smokers (ex and current) who had to see their GP for antibiotics in the last 12 months. The second surgery was a complete database review of all patient s diagnosed with COPD.

Screening programme results                                Database results