#AskAboutAsthma 2024: helping children and young people to live their best lives, returns for its eighth year this month (September 2024) and will run from 9-15 September, ahead of the rise in asthma attacks in September when students go back to school after their summer holidays.

The campaign encourages simple changes to children and young people’s care that will make a big difference to how they experience their asthma.

This year’s theme is focusing on helping children and young people with asthma to live their best lives. Asthma should not limit children and young people’s lives in any way and good asthma control means having no symptoms.

#AskAboutAsthma promotes getting these four asks in place:

• 1. get an asthma action plan in place.
• 2. understand how to use inhalers correctly – if prescribed a preventer/controller inhaler ensure it is used everyday.
• 3. schedule an asthma review every year and after every attack.
• 4. consider air pollution and its impact on lung health – every asthma conversation should include indoor and outdoor air pollution.

To help support this campaign, NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board is promoting its Asthma Friendly Schools Accreditation which encourages all schools to welcome children with asthma and put simple strategies in place to ensure they can fully participate in school life.

Asthma is the most common long-term medical condition in children in the UK. The UK has one of the highest prevalence, emergency admission and death rates for childhood asthma in Europe. Children with asthma are more likely to take time out of school than their peers without asthma, particularly if they suffer from persistent or severe asthma symptoms.

To achieve the Asthma Friendly accredited status, schools must meet the following key objectives:

• Adopt an asthma policy
• Have a named asthma lead/champion amongst its staff
• Maintain an up-to-date asthma register of the children in its care
• Ensure staff complete baseline asthma training and annual updates
• Ensure staff can recognise when a child is having an asthma attack and know what to do if this happens
• Ensure children always have easy access to their reliever/rescue inhaler
• Provide a school emergency inhaler and spacer device within the allowable legislation or ensure every child with asthma has a spare inhaler for emergency use stored safely on site.

Tower Road Academy in Boston is the first school to be awarded the Asthma Friendly School accreditation in Lincolnshire.  This is a recognition for their work in helping children with asthma stay well.

Their Head Teacher, Mr McCullough, at the time of accreditations being awarded said:

“We are proud and delighted that the care we give to those children with asthma has been recognised by the NHS.  Being an accredited Asthma Friendly School is important to us: it gives us the confidence that the processes we have in place and the training we undertake places us in the strongest position possible to look after the young people in our school. 

“I would encourage every school to gain the accreditation.  The process is supportive and is focused on providing the best care for children.”

Find out more about Asthma Friendly Schools.

Find out more about Childhood asthma.