{
  "abstract": "Introduction Clinical Scientist-led breathlessness clinics within Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) enable timely diagnosis and management planning for patients with chronic breathlessness (Pritchard et al. 2025). However, Clinical Scientists in the UK do not currently hold prescribing rights. Where management requires initiation of pharmacological therapy, treatment implementation relies on subsequent action by primary care. The impact of this prescribing constraint on treatment delay has not been well characterised.Methods A retrospective service evaluation was undertaken of patients seen and discharged from a Clinical Scientist-led breathlessness clinic between November 2023 and December 2025. Of 206 referrals, 139 patients were assessed and discharged at the point of analysis. Thirty-nine patients received a new diagnosis of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with advice to initiate guideline-concordant inhaled therapy in line with national guidance (NICE 2024). Time-to-prescription was defined as days from clinic appointment to GP prescription issue date, determined by GP record review. Data are presented as median (interquartile range).Results Of the 39 patients advised to commence inhaled therapy, 32 had a documented GP prescription issue date and were included in delay analysis. The median time from clinic appointment to GP prescription was 46 days (IQR 29.5–68.5; range 6–414 days). Seven patients had no record of a new inhaled prescription within the study window, including two already prescribed inhaled therapy, three without the new diagnosis recorded in GP records, and one with an existing diagnosis.Conclusion In a Clinical Scientist-led breathlessness clinic, absence of prescribing authority was associated with prolonged and highly variable delays to initiation of inhaled therapy following new respiratory diagnosis. Reliance on post-clinic GP prescribing risks undermining the benefits of rapid diagnostic pathways delivered within CDCs (NHS England 2020). These findings describe a system constraint within current service models rather than evaluating prescribing practice or professional scope, with implications for patient experience, safety, and service effectiveness.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom"
      ],
      "name": "Andrew Pritchard"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom"
      ],
      "name": "Helen Ward"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P10 Delays to treatment initiation following diagnosis in a clinical scientist-led breathlessness clinic",
  "uid": "fa98dd1a-b7f4-5d1d-9967-12e89255b68f"
}