Introduction: St. Vincent's University Hospital ERN-Lung Centre for Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) reviews over 600 patients annually.  The role of an advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) was established in 2021 to facilitate better access for patients to treatment, oxygen assessment, facilitation of transplant referral and appropriate institution of palliative care.  THe ILD-ANP coordinates monthly ILD multidisciplinary meetings (MDM) to ensure prompt diagnosis.

Objective: To determine the effect of an ILD-ANP on the provision of care in an ILD specialist centre.

Methods: To determine the impact of ILD-ANP service two 12-month periods of activity and interventions were compared.  A retrospective review of the ILD service was performed for the calendar years 2018 and 2022.

Results:Following the introduction of an ILD-ANP service, the number of new patients seen increased 2.7 fold from 79 to 213 new patients respectively.  The ILD-MDM saw an increase of 25% in the number of cases discussed from 160 to 200 cases.  The ILD-ANP service conducted 1763 consultations/visits in a 12 month period.  Moreover, the service handled 767 unscheduled telephone calls and had 631 indirect contacts with ILD patients.  207 oxygen assessments were performed by ILD-ANP and 6 minute walk tests were performed at 85% of initial clinic visits.  95% of patients seeking early review were accomodated within one week and 100% of patients referred for transplant received ILD-ANP reviews monthly.

Conclusions: The addition of a specialist ILD-ANP at a busy ILD referral centre, has facilitated increased number of referrals to be adequately accomodated and improved patient care and service metrics.