National Review of Asthma Deaths Released

World Asthma Day 2014, the most far reaching National Review of Asthma Deaths has been published. Shockingly it shows almost half of deaths could have been avoided with better routine care. It has identified prescribing errors of a horrifying scale and is a damning indictment of current routine practice. Asthma UK’s full report on these findings and what must change is available here. Sadly, the review confirms previous Asthma UK research; that far too often the 1 in 11 people who have asthma are short-changed by the system. 

Every 10 seconds someone in the UK is having a potentially life threatening asthma attack, with asthma still killing three people each day.  Asthma UK’s goal is to prevent asthma attacks, especially those that result in death and emergency hospitalisation. We are striving to reduce asthma deaths to below the European average and see that no child dies of asthma in the UK. 
The review found that even people with mild asthma are at risk of a serious asthma attack and reinforces the need for vigilance in managing your – or your child’s – asthma especially if you’ve recently had an attack, been in hospital or if your asthma is waking you at night.Take two minutes now to visit Asthma UK’s website and take the first step to reducing your risk. This report is a once in a generation opportunity to ensure asthma finally gets taken seriously; we will not rest until that is achieved.

Related articles across the web

• Updates to student manuals
• Peanut allergy treatment ‘a success’
• Health atlas allows online search of risk by area
• Important safety information for patients using Jext solution for injection in pre-filled pen