High level of addmission in certain areas

Hello, Asthma UK has highlighted certain areas that have a higher number of addmissions than others one of which is Hull and Asthma UK have donated money to Hull and surrounding area with a view to supporting the work the NHS does to halve childhood asthma admissions.

This is lovely to give money but i hope that Asthama UK has some input in to what is actually happening at ground level. For instance, patients admitted to Chest Wards with an acute exacerbation of asthma are only treated on 30mg Prednisolone whereas in other parts of the country they are given 40mg. Another problem is that they are not discharged on a tapering dose and so often have to be readmitted as when Pred is stopped their symptoms return.

Even COPD 'Just in Case' boxes for patients under the care of long term conditions team are only given 30mg of Prednisolone.

It is alarming that in this day and age such discrepancies can occur as the lower dosage can delay recovery and cause readdmission. Fortunately for me i do not get my asthma care in Hull, i travel to access better care but this is not always possible for everyone. A respiratory nurse in Hull told me to wait 20 mins before ringing an ambulance. I disregarded this as i know that if i cannot talk in full sentances, my nebuliser is having no effect and i am still SOB then i need to get help quick. But i know this through Asthma UK and my Chest Consultant OUTSIDE of Hull, not because of the care/advice given in Hull.

I hope one day that there will be an equality in the standard/level of care received by asthmatics throughout the UK and am very grateful of the advice given to me by Asthma UK. Thanks to them i am still here, i have an understanding of my asthma, i followed their guidelines to the letter and got emergency care. I had a tottering time in Recuss followed by a long admission but AUK helped me through that and pointed me in the right direction and i sought a referral from outside of my region and have not looked back since. Had i not known about AUK it could have had a very different ending, their work is invaluable, i wish that as well as giving money to hotspots like Hull that you could work alongside of them and address the bascic problems at grass roots level. Clearly some of the factors i have mentioned may play a role in the high rate of addmissions in this area because the advice i got from the NHS here was different to the advice given by AUK and the NHS out of my area. Thank you Asthma UK for all you do in highlighting asthma.