Lessons learnt from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death: Acute non-invasive ventilation

The British Thoracic Society (BTS) first produced a guideline on acute non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in 2002. could be treated in a ward setting. No benefit was found when ward-based NIV was used for patients with pH<7.30. In 2004, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended that NIV should be available in all hospitals admitting patients with COPD. It comprised 41 recommendations (2 at grade A). Key recommendations are shown in table