Asthma

Asthma is a very common condition, affecting around 1 in 10 people in the UK. As well as being common, asthma is serious and leads to many thousands of preventable hospital admissions each year with people dying each day from the condition. For some people asthma is a disabling illness, preventing them doing normal activities such as working, studying or socialising.  The Royal is commissioned to provide services for hundreds of people with Difficult-To-Treat Asthma in the Mersey region and beyond. We also provide care for young people with asthma transitioning to adult services from Alder Hey.

We provide:

1. A structured assessment. Many people with Difficult-to-Treat Asthma have an alternative or additional diagnosis that is mainly responsible for their problems, such as large airway collapse with symptoms (LACS) or inducible laryngeal obstruction (ILO).
2. Multidisciplinary review. Our team includes several doctors and nurses with different sub-specialty interests, alongside a variety of therapists with dedicated time for asthma (physiotherapists, speech and language, etc) and a specialist asthma pharmacist.
3. Tailored specialist treatment. We work to understand what type of asthma people have, and offer them appropriate, rather than “one size fits all”, treatment. Such treatments include monoclonal antibodies (such as e.g. mepolizumab) that are not available at most hospitals. All such treatments are delivered using a clear protocol to reduce risk and maximise benefit.

How we work:

As the service sees a huge number of people and the team is large, it is likely patients will meet a variety of healthcare professionals. However, we discuss issues at regular confidential meetings to try to ensure we deliver timely and appropriate care. We also work with colleagues in related specialties and other hospitals, and it is common for people to have “shared care” across sites or disciplines.

We are proud to be part of the North West Severe Asthma Service Operational Delivery Network (NWSAS). This is a group of hospitals across the region that work together to offer more standard and comprehensive care, and to collect data to further improve. We meet our NWSAS colleagues regularly to ensure access to, and delivery of specialist care is coordinated across the region.

• Specialist Nurses: Natasha Fernandes, Helen James, Sue Mault
• Consultants: Seher Zaidi, Livingstone Chishimba, Hassan Burhan, Gareth Jones
• Asthma pharmacist: Hannah Joplin
• Specialist Therapists: Renu Abraham, Jo Clayton

If you'd like to get in touch, please email us on asthma@rlbuht.nhs.uk

For more information on asthma visit asthma UK