The National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) came out a decade ago, yet as a nation, we still have the highest asthma death rate in Europe - four times that of Italy or the Netherlands. This is unsurprising, considering many patients still rely on their blue inhalers alone.

On the 28th November the joint National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), British Thoracic Society (BTS) and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) will publish their long-awaited single guideline on asthma diagnosis, monitoring and management.

This is a high-level summary of what the new BTS/NICE/SIGN Asthma: diagnosis monitoring and chronic asthma management guideline means for you as a primary healthcare professional and what steps you need to take to implement it effectively. 

It is not a tick box template – all consultations with patients should be approached holistically and tailored specifically to the patient’s needs, requirements and other co-morbidities and situations.

We have issued pragmatic guidance for the routine and crisis management of patients with asthma and COPD during the UK Covid-19 epidemic.

Asthma Guidelines in Practice – A PCRS Consensus is a practical and pragmatic guide for healthcare professionals working in primary and intermediate care.  This guide was commissioned to provide clarity on aspects of diagnosis, management and monitoring of asthma that are uncertain

Corinne Beirne, Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Amanda Roberts, from PCRS’s patient reference group, discuss what constitutes a good asthma review from a patient’s perspective.

2024 marked a pivotal change in the management of asthma in the UK with the publication of a joint British Thoracic Society (BTS), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guideline.