Breathing life into referrals: consumer co-design enhances pulmonary rehabilitation access in COPD

<bold>Aim:</bold> Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is standard care for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but referral is suboptimal. We sought to implement consumer co-designed strategies optimising PR referral and evaluate their impact. <bold>Methods:</bold> This study was completed across two phases occurring August 2020 to January 2021, and March to August 2023. Western Australians with COPD appearing appropriate for outpatient PR were sequentially recruited from three tertiary hospitals. Each participant was prospectively tracked for 2 weeks from recruitment to determine if they were referred to PR. Between Phases 1 and 2, our consumer group co-designed and implemented strategies optimising PR referral (e.g. offloading parking costs, deploying case finders to generate referrals, PR promo). To evaluate the impact of co-designed strategies, we conducted an interrupted time series with segmented regression. <bold>Results:</bold> 1,154 people with COPD were approached, 699 consented and 572 analysed (age 69±11yr, FEV1 49±20%, BMI 28±7kg/m2; 315[55%] males, 391[68%] recruited in Phase 1). Compared with Phase 1, Phase 2 was characterised by a 23% improvement in the proportion of participants referred to PR (95% CI 15 to 32%, Figure 1). In Phase 2, 94±14% of participants interacted with a case finder. <fig><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/PA4977/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig> <bold>Conclusion:</bold> Consumer strategies improved PR referral. Further analysis is required to understand the impact on healthcare utilisation.