Moray Community Health and Social Care Partnership (MCHSCP)

Met Office Healthy Outlook® COPD Forecast Alert for Patients

Moray Community Health and Social Care Partnership offers the Met Office Healthy Outlook COPD Forecast Alert service.

What Is Healthy Outlook?

Healthy Outlook is a self-care, preventative service, aimed at helping people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) stay well. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is the collective name for a group of conditions, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The service helps COPD patients manage their condition more effectively by warning them of periods of increased risk to their health. The service aims to encourage patients to self-manage their own condition by prompting good practice.

There is a strong link between COPD hospital admissions and environment factors such as the weather and levels of circulating infections. The Healthy Outlook service was developed by the Met Office to predict the risk of COPD hospital admissions. The main triggers are:

• Cold weather
• Virus load in the community
• Seasonal patterns

The service uses this knowledge to help improve patients' quality of life. Current evidence indicates that the service can help reduce unplanned NHS contact and hospital admissions by around 20%.

Patients who take-up the service will receive a comprehensive patient pack which outlines the actions they can take to keep themselves well. At times when there may be at greater risk of ill health, the alert service reminds patients of these simple measures via an interactive (automated) telephone call from the Met Office. This allows the patient to report symptoms early and prompts the patient to ensure they have sufficient medication.  The local Administrator will follow up selected patients after the automated calls, if they made particular responses to the interactive questions.

There is no charge for using this service.

How Do I Find Out More?

To find out more you can look on the Met Office website: www.metoffice.gov.uk/health

You can be referred to the service through the following Moray GP practices:

Dufftown, Fochabers, Rothes, Elgin Community Surgery, Moray Coast Medical Practice, Maryhill, Linkwood and Elgin Medical Centre

Or you can self refer if you have had a formal diagnosis of COPD by contacting our COPD Administrator at Spynie Hospital on Tel. 01343 567110 or by email at moray.copd@nhs.net