Asthma UK Comment On A Study Which Shows That Government Plans To Close Local A&E Departments May Lead To More Deaths In Some Group Of Patients

Main Category: Respiratory / Asthma
Article Date: 29 Aug 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Asthma UK comment on results from a study by the University of Sheffield, published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, which show that Government plans to close local Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments may lead to more deaths in some groups of patients. The study found that the further seriously ill patients have to travel by ambulance to reach emergency care, the more likely they are to die.

Neil Churchill, Asthma UK Chief Executive, says: 'The Government is right to move towards developing more specialist services - this is what people with asthma want. However, as we know and as this report shows, people with asthma are among the group of patients most likely to be affected by increased distances travelled to hospital. A patient experiencing an acute asthma attack who is not responding to treatment in an ambulance will be more likely to die the longer it takes to get them to hospital. It also intensifies an already frightening and distressing experience for the patient.

'This means that the local services which the Government plans to use for emergency asthma treatment must have greater specialist care and the capacity to respond to asthma attacks before the withdrawal of A&E units. It is also vitally important the Government target of all people with asthma being offered a care plan by 2010, is firmly in place too. By improving routine care so that emergency treatment could be avoided, many people with asthma would no longer have to put themselves at increased risk through longer ambulance journeys.'

http://www.asthma.org.uk

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