Improving quality of life for thousands of people with severe asthma

A message for patients on the World Asthma Day - impacts of the National Asthma Biologics Programme
This video shares great work of National Asthma Biologics Programme and explains different types of asthma and a new type of treatment available for people with severe asthma - biologics. It also highlights resources available for clinicians and patients, including patient information leaflets in different languages and audio translations.
bit.ly/AsthmaToolkit
Asthma is a common health condition, affecting more than 5.4 million people in the UK. One in 12 adults in the UK have asthma. Nationally, the NHS spends around £1 billion annually treating and caring for people with asthma.
The Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) works in partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), to bring together industry, Government, regulators, patients, and the NHS to remove barriers and accelerate the adoption and spread of new treatments and diagnostics which can transform asthma care.
In April 2021, AHSNs began AAC Rapid Uptake Asthma Biologics Programme to support improvements in pathways and practices to ensure more patients receive timely specialist care for their severe asthma and access asthma biologics. The National programme aligned with clinical priorities in the NHS Long Term plan on improving outcomes for patients with respiratory disease.
Biologic therapies offer a life-changing treatment option for many patients with severe asthma often improving symptom control, reducing the number of asthma attacks and in turn the reliance on oral steroids - known to have several harmful side effects.
The work of the AHSNs has focussed on collaboration across the healthcare system, involving patients, and engagement with the third sector and industry partners to bring about change. AHSNs work with their local systems to support the improvement of pathways and provide educational resources.
Significant impacts have already been seen of the programmes including:
· 4,698 new patients initiated onto asthma biologics April 2021 - March 2023
· Around 3,000 fewer patients prescribed 3g or more of prednisolone each month.
· 21,600 views of the Asthma Biologics toolkit. It could potentially show some of the resources e.g. the consensus pathway - in the same style that the patient leaflets are displayed.
Find out more about free patient and clinical resources available on Asthma Biologics Tool