Star Comment: Asthma kit a sensible precaution
For those whose lives are not affected by asthma, some of the figures from Jacqui Seaton, of the Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group, are startling.
On average, she says, asthma attacks lead to 20 emergency hospital admissions a week in Telford.
And on average there are two diagnosed asthmatic children in every single school class in the area.
She was of course not talking in any sort of political context, but as we are in a General Election campaign in which the National Health Service is an issue, we can look at the problem in the light of its impact on the NHS.
If we can stop people going to hospitals for treatment for asthma, it will lessen the burden on them.
According to Asthma UK, if sufferers have an asthma action plan, they are four times less likely to have an attack that requires emergency hospital treatment.
Asthma is not just an irritation and inconvenience. It is, in rare and exceptional cases, potentially fatal.
With significant numbers of Shropshire schoolchildren suffering from asthma, it is quite obvious that if their problems are tackled promptly it can save a lot of discomfort, disruption and potential danger, while at the same tame saving the NHS money by reducing avoidable trips to hospitals.
There is a new policy in Telford & Wrekin in which schools are being given special asthma kits and staff are being given training on how to deal with asthma attacks.
It will mean that the schools can hold inhalers in their offices. In other words, effective help will be there on the spot, and there will be staff who know how to give it.
These emergency kits will be a valuable back-up if the children have an attack at school and cannot use their own inhalers for some reason.
It is such an obvious precaution that you wonder why it has not been adopted before. There is, though, a general backdrop of fear in modern society – a fear of being landed with blame for something.
Faced with certain situations, people have that urge to help tempered by the knowledge that if they do try and mess it up, they could be sued. Fear of doing the wrong thing inhibits them from doing the right thing.
This new initiative is a measured and common sense approach which provides the reassurance to children and parents that effective help is at hand. Everyone stands to win.
