Asthma

(asked on 30th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve asthma outcomes.


Answered by
Lord Bethell Portrait
Lord Bethell
This question was answered on 15th January 2021

The NHS Long Term Plan set out the commitments and objectives for the National Health Service for the next 10 years.  The plan includes respiratory disease as a national clinical priority, with the overarching objective of improving outcomes for people with respiratory disease, including asthma.  This includes early and accurate diagnosis of respiratory conditions like asthma to provide the opportunity for better management which can help prevent exacerbations and avoidable emergency admissions.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have established 13 respiratory clinical networks across the country, to provide clinical leadership of respiratory services. One of their objectives focuses on improving clinical pathways for asthma. The Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) ensures all general practitioner (GP) practices establish and maintain a register of patients with an asthma diagnosis in accordance with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s guidance. An update to the GP Contract for 2020/21-2023/24 to be implemented in 2021 includes an improved QOF asthma domain. The content of the asthma review has been amended to incorporate aspects of care positively associated with better patient outcomes and self-management, including a review of inhaler technique and record of exacerbations.

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