Asthma sufferers not receiving 'life-saving' treatment, charity warns

Experts say lack of care means patients face a ‘never-ending cycle’

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Four in five people with suspected severe asthma are at constant risk of life-threatening attacks because they are not getting referred for specialist treatments, a charity has warned.

Asthma UK said that tens of thousands of people in England potentially have a type of asthma that does not respond to conventional treatments.

However, many of them aren't being referred to specialists for diagnoses, causing them to miss out on treatments that could transform, or even save, their lives.

In a new report, published on Wednesday, the charity warned that these people were caught in a “never-ending cycle” of going in and out of hospital with repeated life-threatening asthma attacks and forced to take treatments with “toxic” side effects.

As a result of its findings, the charity is calling for the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) to develop new guidelines so healthcare professionals can “confidently” refer patients with possible severe asthma to specialist care.

Dr Samantha Walker, Asthma UK's director of policy and research, said suspected severe asthma patients had the highest risk of dying from an asthma attack.

"We want healthcare professionals to take asthma seriously and refer suspected severe asthma patients more quickly, as they are have the highest risk of dying from an asthma attack," Walker said.

"Nice must also urgently put in place clear, simple and unambiguous guidelines so healthcare professionals can follow the protocol and more people with severe asthma can receive life-saving and life-changing treatment."

The report also found that many GPs were not spotting the warning signs of severe asthma including frequent asthma attacks.

It added that many people with difficult or severe asthma were relying on long-term, high-dose steroids which are not always effective and can cause side effects including weight gain, mood changes and osteoporosis.

Asthma UK estimates that about 127,000 people on high-dose inhaled steroids were not being referred to specialist care.

It said that new medicines were available to treat severe asthma – such as monoclonal antibodies, which can reduce or stop the need for oral steroids and have fewer side effects – but that these injections are only available for patients who have been referred to severe asthma centres.

Dr Andy Whittamore, Asthma UK's clinical lead who is also a practising GP, said GPs were hampered by a lack of clear and effective referral guidelines from Nice for severe asthma, meaning those most at risk might not be referred.

"Severe asthma has a colossal impact on people's lives and can disrupt their home, work and school life," Whittamore said.

“If someone's symptoms cannot be controlled or they have more than two flare-ups requiring oral steroids, healthcare professionals should consider referring their patient to a specialist asthma clinic.”

According to the NHS, asthma is a common lung condition that causes occasional breathing difficulties.

It affects people of all ages and often starts in childhood, although it can also develop for the first time in adults.

The NHS adds that the main symptoms of asthma include a whistling sound when breathing, breathlessness, a tight chest and coughing.

A recent study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) found that up to a third of new cases of childhood asthma in Europe could be caused by air pollution.

The research looked at the burden of asthma on more than 60 million children across 18 European countries, including the UK, and found that 11.4 per cent of asthma cases (66,567) could be prevented each year if countries adhered to the maximum air pollution levels recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the tiny particles known as PM2.5.