Poor medical care increases asthma-related deaths in UK each year

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A recent report by the Royal College of Physicians showed that about two thirds of asthma sufferers’ deaths in the UK could have been avoided. The report stated that each year, people who are suffering from asthma in the country have been needlessly dying due to poor medical attention.

Woman Using an Inhaler

It has been reported that about five million people in the UK have the condition and about 1,200 have died from it. One sample of 195 fatalities from the condition have been investigated by the National Review of Asthma. It was discovered that improvement was possible in 83% of the cases. In addition to that, over half of the people who passed away were being treated for mild version of the condition.

Moreover, less than half of patients were not being provided with a sufficient amount of preventive medication. Reports stated that the majority of the people who died did not receive care from a specialist and half of them did not get medical help when they suffered from an asthma attack which killed them. In the majority of cases, it was found that most deaths were caused by failure to prescribe a preventive inhaler.

In addition to that, 26 out of 28 children who died of the condition did not receive adequate care. NHS England’s national clinical director for respiratory services, professor Mike Morgan said that every patient must have a care plan which has to be regularly reviewed.

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