MP Oliver Heald attended the launch of Asthma UK’s Fighting for Breath report at a reception at the House of Lords.
Many of the people interviewed for Asthma UK’s report face frequent prejudice because of their severe asthma, due to ignorance about how serious the condition can be and the fact that as a disability it is largely ‘unseen’ and can vary in its severity from day to day.
There are a quarter of a million people in the UK who suffer with severe asthma. Many have difficulty breathing almost all of the time, suffer frequent, serious asthma attacks, have endless trips to hospital for emergency treatment and live with the constant fear that their asthma will one day kill them. They also take high doses of a long list of medicines, which have harmful and debilitating side effects such as osteoporosis, growth problems, weight gain, diabetes, depression and hair loss.
The condition has a huge impact on the quality of people’s lives, preventing many from being able to work, study or do normal day to day activities like caring for children, doing the shopping or managing a full night’s sleep. Severe asthma also places a huge burden on the lives of carers, who often struggle to access financial and emotional support.
Commenting, Oliver Heald said, “I was pleased to attend the Launch of Asthma UK’s “Fighting for Breath” Campaign. I know Asthma UK does fantastic work in raising awareness of this condition, which affects so many in my Constituency and across the UK.”
Notes to Editors
About the Fighting for Breath report
§ Fighting for Breath summarises the findings of eight focus groups across the UK, attended by people with severe asthma between January and March 2010
§ The full list of recommendations from the report are as follows:
Asthma UK and the Severe Asthma National Network (SANN) is calling on healthcare professionals, commissioners, social workers, teachers, employers, regulators and policymakers to work together to:
§ effectively manage the impact of severe asthma medicines
§ improve access to benefits for people with severe asthma
§ improve support for carers of people with severe asthma
§ support children and young people with severe asthma in education
§ give everyone with severe asthma access to specialist care
§ give everyone with severe asthma the right emergency treatment
§ develop and implement national standards for asthma care
§ treat people fairly if they are disabled by severe asthma.
About Asthma UK
§ For further information, contact the Asthma UK media office on 020 7786 4949 or at mediaoffice@asthma.org.uk
§ Follow Asthma UK’s media team on Twitter, at Twitter.com/AsthmaUKMedia
§ Asthma UK is the charity dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the 5.4 million people in the UK whose lives are affected by asthma
§ For up-to-date news on asthma, information and publications, visit the Asthma UK website asthma.org.uk
§ Kickasthma.org.uk is Asthma UK’s interactive website for children and young people with asthma. The site offers support and advice and includes an asthma dictionary, problem page, games and a messageboard
§ For independent and confidential advice on asthma, speak to an asthma nurse specialist on the Asthma UK Adviceline, on 0800 121 62 44 (from 9am to 5pm on weekdays). Or email an asthma nurse at asthma.org.uk/adviceline