The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published a new quality standard on the diagnosis and treatment of asthma in adults, young people and children aged 12 months and older.
This consists of a prioritised set of specific, concise and measurable statements that, when delivered collectively, should contribute to improving the effectiveness, quality, safety and experience of care for people with the condition. The quality standard contains a total of 11 statements, including that adults with new onset asthma are assessed for occupational causes; people with asthma receive a structured review at least annually; people aged five years or older presenting to a healthcare professional with a severe or life-threatening acute exacerbation of asthma receive oral or intravenous steroids within one hour of presentation; people with difficult asthma are offered an assessment by a multidisciplinary difficult asthma service. There are currently more than 5.4 million people in the UK being treated for asthma; about 1.1 million of these are children. There were 1,131 deaths from asthma in the UK in 2009. Commenting on the standard, Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: “With mortality 50% higher than the EU average, and hospital admissions significantly more common than elsewhere in the developed world, most people working in respiratory disease today will recognise that there is considerable scope for improving asthma care in this country. We hope that, by outlining priority areas for quality improvement, this new quality standard document will mark a significant step towards the kind of world-class care everyone working in the industry wants for the four and a half million people living with asthma across England.”
