An asset based approach to children's asthma

Children's asthma is still a huge burden on families, schools, primary care, A&E and specialist teams. 

According to Asthma UK: 

•  One in 11 children has asthma and it is the most common long-term medical condition. 
•  On average there are three children with asthma in every classroom in the UK. 
•  The UK has among the highest prevalence rates of asthma symptoms in children worldwide. 
•  Asthma attacks hospitalise someone every 8 minutes; 
• 185 people are admitted to hospital because of asthma attacks every day in the UK (a child is admitted to hospital every 20 minutes because of an asthma attack). 

But we don't wanna tweet about the negative

Perhaps unusually, on this chat we will focus on the glass half full – strengths, successes and skills – rather than problems (just for a change!) ie an asset based approach, rather than a needs-based one. General practice nurses (GPNs) are often at the front line of supporting and educating children and families to keep them as well and active as possible. But we want this chat to be about multidisciplinary interventions – how can we work better together? So, we invite school nurses, community pharmacists, health visitors, GPs, A&E staff, specialist nurses, parents and schools to join us to chat over the good stuff.

About the hosts:

Heather Henry is an independent public health nurse, Queen's Nurse and co chair of New NHS Alliance. Heather is a former (and rusty!) cardiothoracic nurse and practice nurse .  Heather specialises in social innovation to address health inequalities and practices an asset-based approach as part of her work. At the moment she is piloting the idea of 'asthma parties' in Eccles, Salford, where children with asthma and their families come together to have fun and learn about asthma together-a form of group consultation. Heather's work is part of NHS England's Realising the Value programme  

Louise Brady is a practice nurse in Tameside  and is the strategic development lead for primary care nursing in Manchester. She is the GPN special adviser to New NHS Alliance and sits on the national executive.

Heather and Louise are both part of the fantastic team that hosts @WeGPNs. They founded  the New NHS Alliance GPN network in May 2015 to enable GPNs to have a better voice.