Breaking Down The Barriers To Good Asthma Care

Main Category: Respiratory / Asthma
Also Included In: Allergy
Article Date: 20 Mar 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Asthma UK is launching a set of new healthcare booklets which will help people from South Asian communities, who have been admitted to hospital with a potentially life-threatening asthma attack, avoid future emergency admissions.

There are over 200 emergency admissions for asthma a day in the UK and people from South Asian communities are three times more likely than white people to be admitted to hospital for their asthma. Worryingly one in six people who have received emergency treatment for an asthma attack need emergency treatment again within two weeks.

75% of emergency hospital admissions for asthma are avoidable and Asthma UK's new bilingual materials After Your Asthma Attack and After Your Child's Asthma Attack aim to overcome the language barriers to good healthcare which cause many of these admissions to occur.

The booklets, sponsored by Hoover, have been produced bilingually in English and Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali and Guajarati and will be distributed across the UK to doctors and nurses who work in areas with large South Asian populations. Asthma UK has also produced bilingual copies of the hugely successful, and potentially life-saving, Asthma Attack Card, which is designed for people with asthma to keep with them to ensure that they and others know what to do in the event of an asthma attack.

The booklets include a variety of resources including a section to be filled in by the doctor with the patient or carer on what medicines should be taken in the first few days following an attack. They also provide information on how to keep asthma under control and further questions to ask your doctor or asthma nurse. By providing good quality and accessible information the materials will improve people's confidence and ability to control their asthma, enabling them to protect themselves from future asthma attacks and emergency admissions.

Daksha Kamdar from Ealing says: 'These booklets are a great idea. Having an asthma attack is really frightening and anything that can help keep me and my family safe and healthy and out of hospital is a very good thing'.

Claire Randolph, Community Development Manager at Asthma UK says: 'Our research shows there is a real need for better resources for South Asian communities who often receive a lower standard of health care and are usually less confident in managing their asthma than other groups.

'To help address the situation we worked with patient groups and healthcare professionals to produce these booklets which offer advice, information and signposting services to empower people with asthma from South Asian communities to better safeguard their health. Going forward we're looking for people to advise us on how we can ensure their community is able to access the best possible healthcare and information.' The booklets will be available from next week and for further information or to order a copy go to the Asthma UK website or call the Supporter Information Team on 08456 63 81 43.

Asthma UK is the charity dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the 5.2 million people in the UK whose lives are affected by asthma.

http://www.asthma.org.uk