Resources

Anti-inflammatory reliever (AIR) therapy could be a very effective way forward for people with asthma who experience symptoms twice a week or less. This top tips article outlines key points and tips which you can use to recommend it and implement an AIR regimen for your asthma patients.

Anti-inflammatory reliever (AIR) is a single inhaler treatment for asthma which can be used by people with asthma and who experience asthma symptoms twice a week or less. It removes the need to have separate preventer (brown) and reliever (blue) inhalers. 

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.

The PCRS Integrated Care Board (ICB), Health Board and Trust toolkit aims to support healthcare commissioners across the UK to implement the new BTS/NICE/SIGN asthma guideline effectively and ensure the best possible care and outcome for all their asthma patients.

Now is the time to make MART moves for asthma. We have been using the separate blue (reliever) and brown (preventer) inhalers for far too long. 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. This is unsurprising, considering many patients still rely on their blue inhalers alone. However, 

Maintenance and reliever therapy (MART) is a treatment for asthma where a single combined inhaler is used for both maintenance and reliever purposes, instead of having separate preventer (brown) and reliever (blue) inhalers. 

For an inhaler to be effective, the correct drug must be prescribed and the device must be used correctly.

With the introduction of a new Maintenance and Reliever Therapy (MART) license for children of 6 - 11 years old, PCRS has provided a summary of the new license and who it is appropriate for.