NICE has published new draft guidance recommending benralizumab (Fasenra, AstraZeneca) for people who have severe eosinophilic asthma.

Patients with difficult and severe asthma are often failing to get the specialist assessment, support and treatment they need, says a new report by Asthma UK.

Hospital admissions were reduced by 16% after practices in Harrow took on board the lessons learned from an audit of 291 children and young people who had had asthma attacks.

A review of 68 worldwide studies has identified the factors which put children at risk of a severe asthma attack. Clinicians will be able to use this information to focus risk reduction management strategies on the high risk child. 

The British Lung Foundation (BLF) and Asthma UK have published two new resources that healthcare professionals can use to encourage patients with COPD and asthma to self-manage their condition. Self-management pack

Today is World Asthma Day, an event held each May by the Global Initiative for Asthma, (GINA) to raise awareness of asthma worldwide.

In this article from the December 2017 Primary Care Respiratory Update, Charles Waddicor,chair of the PCRS-UK Trustees, shares his experience of surviving an asthma attack and his approach to self-management.  The article is introduced by Carol Stonham guest editor for this issue of Primary

Chronic lung disease is a common and growing problem in Africa affecting around 1 in 8 adults. The main forms are COPD, asthma and post TB lung disease.

Developed by the PCRS Service Development Committee, the Respiratory Service Framework (RSF) helps those looking to design a patient focussed respiratory service working across all sectors of out of hospital care to see the ideal components for a given population of patients.

In this Chair's Perspective from the Spring 2017 edition of Primary Care Respiratory Update, Dr Noel Baxter discusses the importance of early and accurate diagnosis for respiratory conditions.

PCRS has published a consensus statement on key aspects of the diagnosis, management and monitoring of asthma to provide clarity for primary care clinicians faced with conflicting national guidelines1

Asthma UK is inviting applications for its 2018 Project Grants which will support research focused on developing tools for quick, accurate, scalable and low-cost diagnostics in asthma.

The British Thoracic Society (BTS) has published an article on the BMJ/Thorax blog which gives an overview of the key differences between the BTS/SIGN and NICE guidelines on the diagnosis and management of asthma.

Primary Care Respiratory Update produces a regular feature article where we explore how healthcare professionals can support self-management in a range of conditions.  These include:-  

In these two articles from the December 2017 issue of Primary Care Respiratory Update, Dr Andrew Whittamore (Asthma UK) and Mr Mike McKevitt (British Lung Foundation) discuss tools and services available to support self-management in long term respiratory conditions.