Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate pilot

Asthma is a disease characterised by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing, which vary in severity and frequency from person to person. It can affect people of all ages and often starts in childhood. This condition is due to inflammation of the air passages in the lungs and affects the sensitivity of the nerve endings in the airways, so they become easily irritated. In an attack, the lining of the passages swell causing the airways to narrow and reducing the flow of air in and out of the lungs.

Some people with asthma may have breathing difficulties most of the time. The most common symptoms are wheezing, breathlessness, tight chest, and coughing.

Asthma attacks can be triggered when you breathe in certain particles or do too much exercise too quickly. This causes the air tubes from your nose to your lungs to become irritate and inflamed. The tubes in your lungs also become narrow, making it harder to breathe. Smoking cigarettes means that the tubes to the lungs become more damaged. Sometimes children can grow out of having asthma.

Asthma can affect anyone, or any age and symptoms can come and go. Sometimes people may not have symptoms for weeks or months at a time. Asthma, hay fever and eczema are related. If you have one of these then you have a higher chance of having another of these conditions

• 1 million children in the UK receive treatment for asthma (1 in 11 CYP)
• UK has among the highest prevalence, emergency admission and death rates for childhood asthma in Europe
• In the Midlands the proportion of under 18 years old diagnosed with asthma is 3.2%
• Locally, only x% have a completed personalised action plan

If your child has asthma there are lots of things, you can do that could help:

• Use your inhaler / preventer correctly (will be looking to add some videos into this section)
• Identify and avoid known triggers
• Regular check ups
• Be aware of weather conditions
• Be prepared – travelling

Asthma can sometimes become worse for a period. This may happen very suddenly and is known as an asthma attack. Symptoms could be:

• Coughing or wheezing becoming quite severe
• Breathless to the point where you can’t speak, eat or sleep
• Fast heart rate and breathing
• Drowsiness or confusion
• Fainting

Find out more

Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution. Air pollution is when the air around us contains certain things that could be harmful to our health. These could be lots of different things such as emissions from cars and dust from tyres. Emerging evidence shows that children in their early years are especially at risk, increasing the likelihood of asthma and poorer lung development.

There can be many factors within a home environment that can contribute to asthma such as tobacco smoke, dust mites, damp, and mould.

Coming soon...

The aim of a Personalised action plan is to help children and their families and carers gain a better understanding and control of their asthma. It tells you, or anyone with you:

• Which medicines you take every day to prevent symptoms and cut your risk of an asthma attack
• What to do if your asthma symptoms are getting worse
• The emergency action to take if you’re having an asthma attack and when to call 999