Features - Survey Reveals Nurses Feel Unsupported To Deliver Personal Asthma Action Plans
     

New survey data released by Asthma UK for World Asthma Day, (4 May) shows that huge variability is reported by practice nurses in the use of personal asthma action plans, with patients in areas with high emergency hospital admissions for asthma less likely to get an asthma action plan, despite its proven link in reducing the risk of admissions.

Asthma action plans have a prominent place in clinical guidelines, but only 40% of nurses in the North say their practice normally use them compared with 78% of nurses in the South, reflecting the sharp North-South divide in levels of emergency admissions for asthma.

The survey of 200 practice nurses across the UK shows that responsibility for asthma management in primary care lies more often with practice nurses than GPs, yet four out of ten nurses work in practices which are not routinely offering personal action plans to patients. More than two thirds of practice nurses can’t make as much use of personal asthma action plans as they would like to, despite the Government commitment to ensuring that everyone with a long-term condition in England has a personalised care plan by 2010.

The survey also reveals that where a specialist nurse is responsible for the care of people with asthma, more patients have a personal asthma action plan than if a non-specialist nurse is responsible. This adds to the already considerable evidence that healthcare professionals with dedicated training in asthma management provide the best care for people with asthma and reinforces the need for specialist asthma nurse posts to be protected when the NHS looks for savings in the future.

Self-management education and written, personal asthma action plans are strongly advocated in the British Guideline on the Management of Asthma and these plans, as part of a wider self-management programme, have been shown to significantly improve health outcomes by reducing hospital admissions and re-admissions, visits to A&E, unscheduled visits to the doctor, asthma symptoms and days off work or school. The evidence is particularly strong for people who have moderate to severe symptoms. The majority of the 1,200 asthma deaths every year could be avoided if people had better routine control of the condition and were supported by their healthcare professionals in using self-management tools such as action plans.

Despite the proven health benefits of having a plan, Asthma UK’s survey has highlighted a number of issues which limit the number of action plans being offered, with 66% of nurses reporting that not all patients want a plan, 61% reporting there isn’t enough time and 47% reporting that some patients can’t use them. Other reasons include a lack of resources, inadequate support and a lack of training for healthcare professionals about how plans can help people with asthma (nurses in practices which do not routinely offer plans are nearly twice as likely to say that there is a lack of staff training on asthma).

Asthma UK Chief Executive, Neil Churchill, says: ‘This data suggests that the lack of consistent standards for asthma across the UK is having a detrimental impact on the delivery of effective asthma care in the community. There is over a decade of clear evidence that personal asthma action plans help and we need to ensure that irrespective of where someone with asthma lives, they are offered a plan. Personal asthma action plans must be delivered by healthcare professionals with specific asthma training and must be made a part of routine clinical practice everywhere through inclusion in the Quality and Outcomes Framework*. Until this is achieved, the clear lack of understanding about asthma management and the value of personal asthma action plans will continue to result in avoidable and life-threatening asthma attacks as well as costly hospital admissions.’

Press Release Supplied By health4media.com