Asthma UK – improving the health and well being of people with asthma

Asthma UK is the charity dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the 5.2 million people in the UK who have asthma. We work with people with asthma, healthcare professionals and researchers to develop and share expertise to help people increase their understanding and reduce the effect of asthma on their lives.

Asthma UK supports healthcare professionals to improve the quality of care that they provide for people with asthma. We offer a variety of tools and information to make your job easier and more effective when looking after your patients with asthma.

Asthma UK materials – providing practical, easy to read information

Call 020 7704 5888 or visit asthma.org.uk/pros/publications02.php to get materials to help your patients to self manage and take better control of their asthma. These include Asthma UK’s new and improved Be in Control materials.

Evaluated by healthcare professionals and people with asthma, Be In Control consists of:

• Personal Asthma Action Plan
  Fill the plan in with your patients so they have written information about what actions to take when symptoms get better or worse and what to do during an attack.
• Asthma Medicine Card
  Provides people with asthma with credit card-sized written information about their medicines, how to recognise signs of worsening symptoms and what to do about them.
• Making the Most of Your Asthma Review
  Outlines what people with asthma can expect from their asthma review and gives example questions they might ask.
• Your Peak flow
  For people with asthma to use to record their peak flow and/or symptoms on an ongoing basis.
• 'How to use the Be in Control materials' booklet
  – a guide to help healthcare professionals use these materials with exemplars of good practice.

Asthma UK Adviceline – helping to answer personal queries and concerns

Asthma UK recognises that healthcare professionals may not have the time during a routine appointment to answer all their patient’s questions. Your patients can therefore get additional personal help with their asthma concerns by speaking to a specialist asthma nurse on the Asthma UK Adviceline.

• The Asthma UK Adviceline - open weekdays from 9am to 5pm on 08457 01 02 03
• Calls are completely confidential and are charged at local rate
• Interpreting service also available for the same price in 150 different languages
• Email queries at asthma.org.uk/adviceline

People with asthma also have the option of talking to others who are affected by asthma via the messageboard at asthma.org.uk.

Asthma UK PEAK holidays – empowering children and young people with asthma

Asthma UK PEAK holidays give children and young people with asthma the opportunity to experience an adventurous holiday away from home, whilst helping them to understand their asthma and giving them the confidence to manage it and achieve better symptom control.

PEAK holidays:

• Staffed by specially trained volunteers so that children can participate in a wide variety of sporting, creative and social activities
• Include educational activities and informal advice sessions run by healthcare professional volunteers.

Every year Asthma UK receives many letters from families saying what a difference PEAK has made to their lives. For further information about PEAK holidays or becoming a volunteer visit asthma.org.uk/help/peak.

Asthma UK website – providing all the latest asthma news and information

At asthma.org.uk you can access news and information on asthma care and treatments, as well as exchanging ideas via the health professionals’ asthma forum at asthma.org.uk/forum. You can also find details of Airways Extra, a subscription scheme offered by Asthma UK and run jointly with the National Respiratory Training Centre, which supports health professionals in the delivery of optimal care to patients living with a respiratory disorder.

 

Click here to obtain a copy of THE NAPC REVIEW