Children’s lives at risk from failures in asthma care, warns safety watchdog
Children with asthma are at risk of avoidable deaths in England because of poor NHS systems and a failure to appreciate the dangers posed by the condition.
A new investigation by NHS safety watchdog the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has revealed a series of risks to children with asthma, as concerns emerge of the impact of the pandemic on asthma patients more generally.
The latest inquiry was sparked by the deaths of three children between 2014 and 2017. All were caused by asthma attacks which were later the subject of warnings by coroners.
In each case HSIB said there were missed opportunities to recognise asthma as a life-threatening condition as well as problems with how the children were managed by doctors working in different parts of the NHS.
Source: The Independent, 5 May 2021