Single Guideline for Asthma Briefing Document

We have guidelines on asthma from two different sources in the UK – BTS/SIGN and NICE. The British Asthma guideline from BTS/SIGN was first published in 2003 and is well established, respected and comprehensive. NICE decided to develop first a guideline on diagnosis and monitoring in asthma, and then a guideline on asthma management, and they finally came together in a single published guideline in November 2017. 

PCRS maintain that the existence of two guidelines is confusing for primary care generalists, who need clear evidence based guidance on best practice. We would therefore like to see a single asthma guideline. In our 2017 survey of members, 95% indicated that they would welcome NICE and SIGN/BTS collaborating to develop a single guideline.