Improving asthma management

Data from the Quality Outcome Framework shows the prevalence of diagnosed asthma is 5.9 per cent, making it one of the most common long-term conditions managed in the NHS.¹ This equates to 3.4 million people in England and around 3.85 million people in the UK. The majority of asthma management takes place in primary care by skilled nurses.

In October 2014, the new British guideline on the management of asthma was released.² The guideline is produced by the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and SIGN, with support from patient charities and the Primary Care Respiratory Society UK, among others.

The BTS/SIGN guideline meets the rigour and quality expected by NICE, and forms the basis of good asthma management in the UK. The method used to revise the guideline is to review the literature in a number of areas, not every area of the guideline each time.