Asthma inhalers ... GP's complacent ???

[chenrezig]

130,000 at risk from asthma inhaler blunder: Patients told to use devices in way that is leaving them prone to suffering fatal attack
• GPs and other healthcare workers are now too 'complacent' about asthma
• They 'forget' condition claims the lives of 1,200 adults and children a year
• GPs give patients 'reliever' inhalers without 'preventative' steroid inhalers
• Patients advised to check inhalers to ensure they are taking both types

More than 130,000 adults and children with asthma are being put at risk by GPs prescribing unsafe medication, a report warns. Patients are being told to use their inhalers in a way that is leaving them prone to suffering a fatal attack. Experts say GPs and other healthcare professionals have become too ‘complacent’ about asthma and forget the condition claims the lives of 1,200 adults and children a year.

Research by Asthma UK found that GPs are routinely flouting guidelines by giving patients ‘reliever’ inhalers, which ease breathlessness, without ‘preventative’ steroid inhalers, which treat inflammation of the airways. Over time, patients’ airways become more inflamed and increasingly sensitive to dust, pollen or other triggers which could cause a fatal asthma attack. In the US, the use of reliever inhalers alone is considered so dangerous that packaging carries a ‘black box’ warning, telling patients they could die.

SO WHAT SHOULD PATIENTS USE?
Patients with asthma are usually given two types of inhalers: Blue ‘relievers’ and red, orange or brown ‘preventers’.

Relievers are for relieving symptoms quickly. They contain medicines which relax the muscles around the narrowed airways, opening them up and making it easier to breath. But crucially, they do not reduce the inflammation of the airways so they do not improve the condition in the long term.
This is why it is so important that patients are also given preventer inhalers to use once or twice a day.

Long-acting relievers are given to patients with severe asthma and open up the airways for 12 hours if dust, pollen or something else causes them to become wheezy.
The research also found that a further 2 per cent – equivalent to 107,600 patients – are being prescribed more than 12 short-acting reliever inhalers a year.
These give instant relief but are also potentially dangerous because it suggests that a patient’s condition is not being properly controlled if they need so many prescriptions.

Experts are particularly concerned about the use of long-acting reliever inhalers on their own which work for 12 hours and are given to patients with bad asthma so they can manage their condition.
They are also worried about the use of short-acting reliever inhalers given to the majority of asthma patients for instant relief. They are concerned that patients are getting through their short-acting reliever inhalers so quickly that it suggests their asthma is not being properly controlled.

GPs are now being urged to trawl through patients’ records and summon anyone who has been given only a long-acting reliever inhaler. In addition, patients are being advised to check their inhalers to ensure they are taking both relievers and preventative types, and make an immediate appointment if they are worried.

Kay Boycott, chief executive of Asthma UK, said: ‘The UK has some of the highest mortality rates for asthma in the Western world and the levels of unsafe prescribing identified in our report today must be stopped. ‘It is crucial that healthcare professionals review their systems and urgently recall patients who have been prescribed long-acting reliever inhalers on their own without a steroid preventer, or not as a combination inhaler. ‘There is a complacency about asthma and people don’t realise it can kill. ‘Anyone with asthma who is concerned by these findings should try not to worry – they are not in any immediate danger. 'However, it is important that people with asthma really understand their medicines and take an active role in managing their medication.’

The UK has the third-highest death rate for asthma in the West, after Estonia and Spain, and it is estimated that 800 adults and children die every year due to shortfalls in their care.
Researchers at Asthma UK looked at the medical records of 94,955 patients from 500 GP practices.
They concluded that 0.4 per cent of all the asthma sufferers in the UK – or 22,840 – were being prescribed long-acting reliever inhalers without preventative inhalers.

It is important that people with asthma really understand their medicines and take an active role in managing their medication

Dr Mark Levy, a practising GP and expert in prescribing asthma medication, said: ‘The reality is that deaths can be prevented when symptoms are managed effectively.’

[annie]

At our surgery, you are sent to the Asthma nurse who shows you how to use the inhalers properly & she reviews you every 6 months to make sure your medication needs are the same & to ensure you are still using the inhalers correctly.

[wendy]

I think our surgery does the same , Annie