Asthma deaths report warns complacency is costing lives

By Dominic Hughes

Health correspondent, BBC News

There are 5.5 million people in the UK with asthma

People suffering from asthma are dying unnecessarily because of complacency among both medical staff and patients, according to the first national study of asthma deaths in the UK.

Researchers found that in nearly half of the cases they looked at, asthma sufferers did not receive any medical help during their final asthma attack.

The National Review of Asthma Deaths says sufferers and medics must be better at recognising the danger signs.

The UK has 5.5 million asthmatics.

Complacency

Although deaths linked to the condition have been falling, there were 1,242 in 2012 - meaning the UK has some of the highest asthma death rates in Europe.

Holly Sparshott, from Gosport, died of asthma at the age of 12. Her mother, Sarah, is campaigning to raise awareness about how dangerous the disease can be.

The national study involved a detailed examination of the circumstances around 195 such deaths.

Among the review's key findings were:

• The standard of care received was less than satisfactory in a quarter of cases where people died and there was "room for improvement" in the care received by 83% of those who died.
• Triggers for asthma attacks had not been documented in more than half of the cases and 57% were not recorded as being under specialist supervision in the year before death.
• Deficiencies were found in both routine care and in the treatment of attacks.
• There was widespread under-use of preventer inhalers and excessive over-reliance on reliever inhalers.
• 10% of those who died did so within one month of discharge from hospital following treatment for asthma; at least 21% had attended an emergency department at least once in the previous year.
• Over half of those who died were being treated for mild or moderate asthma at the time; experts concluded that this was mostly because neither doctors nor patients themselves recognised how serious their asthma really was.
• Of those who died, 19% were smokers and others, including many children, were exposed to second-hand smoke in the home.
• Some patients had not collected their prescriptions for preventative treatment or did not attend regular asthma check-ups.