Tragic Bridgnorth family welcome Shropshire school asthma kits move

Gemma and Ashley Brown, of Bridgnorth, said the new asthma kits will make schools far safer and the initiative will save lives.

The couple's son, Cameron, died in 2008 aged two-and-a-half following a severe asthma attack.

Following his death, they set up Cameron's Fund, which is also known as The Cameron Brown Lasting Memories Fund, for Asthma UK in his memory to raise funds for research and support for the five million people in the UK with asthma.

• For more information about Cameron’s Fund visit www.facebook.com/CameronsFund

• The fund can also be supported by texting CAMF50 £3 to 70070

• For more information about the Sarah Carter Edwards Charitable Trust visit www.sarahcarteredwardstrust.co.uk

• AsthmaUK offers advice and help. Visit www.asthma.org.uk, contact info@asthma.org.uk or call 020 77864900

Mr Brown said getting asthma kits in schools was something Asthma UK had been campaigning for for a long time.

"Any sort of medication to relieve or prevent severe asthma attacks in schools is good news," he said.

"Kids will be able to get easier access to life-saving medication and schools will be that much safer now."

The new asthma kits mean that for the first time, schools can administer potentially life-saving inhalers to children having an asthma attack.

The new policy is being put in place in Telford & Wrekin, where schools are being given kits and staff are getting specialist training on how to deal with an asthma attack.

The move has been made possible by a recent change in the law which allows schools to acquire the well-known blue salbutamol inhalers without a prescription.

The inhalers offer relief to people suffering asthma, and many children carry their own from prescriptions from their doctors. The new policy means that schools can now hold the inhalers in their offices, allowing instant access to medical help in the event of an emergency.

The kits and training are being subsidised by Telford & Wrekin clinical commissioning group. It is hoped early treatment of symptoms can prevent the need for children to be taken to accident and emergency at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.

It can also alleviate an asthma attack, which in rare and extreme cases can be fatal. The asthma kits are also available in Shropshire through chemists and each school in the Shropshire Council area has their own asthma champions. They have access to the kits if needed.

The kits include inhalers, spacers that make them easier to use, and instructions on use. Parents of pupils in Telford & Wrekin who have an asthma diagnosis are being asked if they are happy for the school to administer inhalers if their child has an attack they can't treat themselves.

Mr and Mrs Brown say they welcome any increase in the availability of blue inhalers as well as spacers that make them more effective to take.

Recently members of Bridgnorth Rotary Club presented a cheque for £1,484 to the couple's Cameron's Fund. The money was raised after a group of walkers climbed the 800 steps linking Bridgnorth's High Town and Low Town.

Mr Brown added: "Our campaign is going very well and we are close to the £60,000 mark.

"The generosity of local people has astounded us. Anyone who wishes to fundraise can get in touch with us and we will support them."

A trust was also set up by Malcolm Carter in memory of his daughter, Sarah Carter Edwards, who died suddenly from an asthma attack.

The 21-year-old collapsed outside the Hippodrome Pub in Market Drayton in December 2012, and died at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.