Failure to diagnose and treat lung disease including asthma ‘silently suffocating’ NHS [England], highlights quality of NHS Scotland and importance of universal free prescriptions

By Professor John Robertson, OBA This morning, BBC Breakfast has: Failure to diagnose and treat lung disease including asthma is ‘silently suffocating’ the NHS. Last year, I was able to write: Why have deaths due to asthma fallen in Scotland while increasing in England & Wales? BBC Scotland is headlining a story on asthma-related admissions in different parts of the UK with, of course, a tragic case upfront, and parts of Scotland picked out as among the worst but, surely, the survival rate is the news here. In Scotland, from 2008 to 2021, deaths due to asthma have fallen from 103 to 96, … Continue reading Failure to diagnose and treat lung disease including asthma ‘silently suffocating’ NHS [England], highlights quality of NHS Scotland and importance of universal free prescriptions

Scotland’s still far better care for those with breathing problems

In the Observer today: Lung disease patients waiting up to 10 years for diagnosis in poorer areas of England Coincidently in the sister paper, the Guardian, in September 2023, we had this report on the same concerns. It seem little has happened in the years of Johnson, Truss and Sunak. Today in the Guardian: Overlooked lung conditions could create ‘deluge of hospital admissions this winter’ in England, with GPs unable to offer basic lung function testing, report findshttps://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/26/thousands-with-breathing-problems-going-undiagnosed-due-to-lack-of-tests When I read this, I was reminded of this in September 2019: In Nursing Standard yesterday this horrific news: Asthma patients are putting their lives … Continue reading Scotland’s still far better care for those with breathing problems