West Midlands Ambulance Trust Failing People With Asthma, UK

Main Category: Respiratory / Asthma
Article Date: 03 Dec 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has exposed worrying failures by the West Midlands ambulance trust in their provision of care for people with asthma.

There are nearly half a million people with asthma in the West Midlands and the ambulance trust, which covers Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Coventry & Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Birmingham and the Black Country conurbation, was one of only two trusts in England which received a 'failed' rating in the CQC's annual assessment.

There are around 60,000 emergency hospital admissions for asthma in England every year and as many of these people reach the hospital through the ambulance services, these services are incredibly important for the provision of good asthma care. We believe that as many as 90% of asthma deaths may be preventable, so proper assessment and the right treatment at the right time is essential.

Asthma management was introduced to the CQC assessment of ambulance services as a National Priority performance indicator for 2008-09. To receive an 'achieved' rating, Trusts were assessed against five measures, which included whether they measured and recorded respiratory rate¹, peak flow² and oxygen saturation³ before treatment. These measurements are vital as they indicate the severity of the asthma attack and enable healthcare professionals to provide the appropriate treatment. It is particularly concerning that in the West Midlands only 13% of people with asthma had had their peak flow measured by the ambulance service. Without taking these measurements at the outset, ambulance crews would have difficulty in assessing signs of response to treatment or recognising whether someone's condition was deteriorating further, putting patients' lives at unnecessary risk.

A high proportion of people with asthma in the West Midlands also missed out on vital medicines, as in more than one in six cases there was no certainty as to whether reliever medicines had been given and in a further one in six cases, oxygen was not given when the patient needed it.

Cher Piddock, Lead Asthma Nurse at Asthma UK, says: 'Making sure that ambulance services give people with asthma the right care is vitally important and the development of this detailed assessment is a positive step, particularly as the drive for improvement has come from the ambulance sector itself.

'Further improvement is clearly needed in the West Midlands however, especially as this region also has one of the highest emergency hospitalisation rates for asthma in the country. Over the next few months we will be seeking to work with ambulance trusts, including West Midlands, to identify how their services can be improved for people with asthma.'

People from the West Midlands who would like to have a say in how their asthma services are developed will get the opportunity this week, as the Government is working on a major new strategy that will help to improve care for people with asthma and another lung condition called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). As part of the development of the strategy, they want to speak to people with these conditions, and will be holding a consultation event at Walsall Football Club on Friday 4 December.

The event will take place from 10am until 4.15pm, lunch will be provided and reasonable travel expenses will be covered by the Department of Health. People with asthma from the West Midlands who wish to book a place at this event can call 0113 398 4052 for further information.

Notes

1. Respiratory rate is the number of breaths someone takes within a certain amount of time (frequently given in breaths per minute).

2. Peak flow is a simple lung function test that measures how fast you can blow or exhale air out of your lungs.

3. Oxygen saturation measures the saturation of oxygen carried in the blood.

4. The ratings provided by the CQC are based on a sample of up to 300 cases from each ambulance trust.

5. Asthma UK is the charity dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the 5.4 million people in the UK whose lives are affected by asthma.

6. For up-to-date news on asthma, information and publications, visit the Asthma UK website http://www.asthma.org.uk.

Source
Asthma UK

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