Call for an instant quote 0345 90 80 161
Open Mon to Fri 09:00 - 17:30 | Sat 09:00 - 16:00 (GMT)
21 October 2013 08:28
Teaching asthma sufferers how to use their inhaler properly can cut hospital admissions
More than 600,000 asthma sufferers living in London are at risk of having a serious attack because of the poor care and support offered in the capital, according to campaigners.
Asthma travel insurance policies can be taken out by sufferers to give them peace of mind on holiday, however official figures suggest a lack of support on home soil.
Asthma UK says the support offered to 90% of sufferers from London is not up to scratch.
The charity says the proportion is the highest in the country, leaving 663,000 people at risk of a serious attack because they're not being offered an annual check-up or advice on how to use an inhaler properly, which can cut admissions to hospital.
The figures show that the basic care offered to all sufferers in Camden, Greenwich, Havering and Islington is substandard.
Asthma sufferer Anna Pritchard, 29, whose three-year-old daughter Olivia also has the condition, said she'd to fight to get an appointment with a GP after moving from Shropshire to Twickenham.
She told the Evening Standard that even when she'd got one she hadn't been contacted for a follow-up, adding: "It was like my asthma wasn't important enough to warrant wasting their time.
"Commuting to work was a total nightmare. I felt like I was suffocating every time I stepped on the Tube and I had to get off at every single stop just to catch my breath."
Earlier this year the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued guidelines recommending all sufferers should get a written action plan from their GP or asthma nurse so they know what to do when their symptoms worsen. Health bosses in NHS Tower Hamlets and NHS Waltham Forest have promised to implement the NICE guidelines by 2016.
Sufferers without action plans are more than four times likelier to end up in hospital because of an asthma attack.
07 December 2018
Women who don't attend cervical screenings should be offered testing kits they can use at home, new research suggests.
[more...]
06 December 2018
Ryanair could be slapped with enforcement action from the airline regulator after it refused compensation for passengers hit by flight disruption caused by staff taking strike action.
05 December 2018
Protein supplements and muscle training could be the most effective ways to delay or reverse the effects of frailty, a new study suggests.
04 December 2018
Mumford and Sons bassist Ted Dwane has helped create a new exhibition to raise awareness of the loneliness felt by people living with multiple sclerosis (MS).
01 December 2018
A leading charity has praised the actions of Lloyd Russell-Moyle, saying the Labour MP had "done everybody a service" by disclosing his HIV status.
30 November 2018
Sweating out the daily stresses in a sauna could be linked to a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in people aged 50 and over, according to a new study.
29 November 2018
Hitting the Copacabana could soon become a more realistic aim for holidaymakers, with Norwegian set to become the first budget airline to operate UK-Brazil flights.
28 November 2018
Holidaymakers on the UK's proposed new high-speed trainline could have their Amazon packages delivered directly to their seat, according to a train manufacturer.
27 November 2018
Over half of UK frontline medical staff worry their hospitals won't be able to keep patients safe this winter, according to an "alarming" new survey.
24 November 2018
Patients who suffer from a severe form of stroke should be offered a procedure to remove the blood clot up to a day after the onset of their symptoms, draft new guidelines suggest.
23 November 2018
Rising obesity levels have led to a record number of youngsters being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a leading charity has warned.
22 November 2018
An Alzheimer's vaccine has moved closer to becoming a reality after research found that preventing a build-up of toxic brain proteins is possible.