Streamlining the severe asthma pathway: reducing waiting times and improving access to treatment in Wales

Waiting times for severe asthma care in Wales are long, with many patients not accessing biologic medications in a timely manner. This quality improvement project used the Kotter Model, aiming to improve the efficiency and reduce waiting times of the severe asthma service at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. Areas for improvement were identified via a mapping exercise, with the impact of targeted changes assessed using the metric of patient waiting times. Areas for improvement included referral, triage, diagnosis, multidisciplinary team meeting access and discharge/follow-up care. After 12 months, targeted changes resulted in an 8-week reduction in waiting times between multidisciplinary team approval and biologic prescribing, with the number of patients discussed per month in these meetings increasing from five to 30. This demonstrates how targeted changes and holistic pathway evaluation can lead to substantial improvements in patient waiting times and service efficiencies, while enhancing access to diagnostics and treatments for severe asthma and, potentially, other therapy areas.