Lancashire leads the way in post-pandemic asthma care
Last updated 6th Oct 2021
A report by Asthma UK has found that basic asthma care levels dropped in 2020 for the first time in eight years.
But the new 'asthma bus' in Lancashire is hoping to change that.
Asthma in Lancashire is more prevalent that in the rest of England, and it's hoped this new resource will help to support the region's stretched respiratory services.
The bus is starting it journey across the UK in our county, based at Chorley House on Lancashire Enterprise Business Park in Leyland.
The PRECISION Asthma Mobile Clinic will spend 10 weeks across the region, starting at Chorley House and moving to Preston Healthport in 4 weeks, bolstering efforts to accelerate the number of appointments for people with asthma, following disruptions to services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall the region will receive 10 weeks of support.
More than 1 in 20 (6.7%) asthma sufferers delayed emergency care during the pandemic and over a quarter (27.5%) have avoided receiving treatment from their GP.
Around 6% of people across the NHS Central Lancashire CCGs suffer from asthma and between 2017 and 2019 there were 1,492 deaths of people under the age of 75 related to respiratory disease - much higher than the national average in England.
In a partnership between Central Lancashire CCGs, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, PRECISION/AstraZeneca and the North West Innovation Agency, the PRECISION Asthma Mobile Clinic will assist the team at The Airways Asthma Clinic to ensure people with asthma get the care they need.
Three rooms on PRECISION Asthma Mobile Clinic will be offered to Primary Care Networks to support the diagnosis of respiratory conditions through the restarting of spirometry testing, delivered at the Clinic.
Dr Sumantra Mukerji is a GP in Longrigde and chair of Preston's CCG. He said:
"Covid has put a lot of pressure on respiratory services because the team looking after the Covid patients are mainly led by the respiratory team at the hospital.
"Asthma can be a very serious condition and on an average 3 people die from an asthma attack every day in the UK.
"The bus is kitted out with all the equipment that are needed for an assessment of asthma patients.
"The assessments will be carried out by a specialist asthma nurse based in the bus and also with the help of the consultant team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.
"There are also two other rooms in the bus which can be utilised by the Central Lancashire practices to do their own assessment of respiratory conditions.
"I think this will make a significant difference because the aim is to detect and diagnose people with serious asthma and put management in place.
"People with serious asthma tend to have more acute attacks, disrupting their life. They also tend to have more hospital admissions. We should be able to prevent some of these admissions and deaths.
"It does feel wonderful that we're able to start this service in Lancashire!"
After its time in Central Lancashire, the Clinic will continue its journey to other asthma services around the country, supporting NHS teams to help the thousands of people in need of asthma care and review.