An article published in the npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine identified the key factors which contribute to high-quality management of asthma in primary care settings A new article published today in the npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine has identified the key factors which contribute to high-quality management of asthma in primary care settings. Monica Fletcher OBE, who is Advocacy Lead for the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research, is lead author alongside an international team of primary care respiratory experts from nine countries. The expert team identified five key drivers which were thought to be important for improving asthma outcomes: National Health Policy Guidelines for asthma management Reward for performance Resources and organisation within GP practices Access to dedicated and appropriately trained personnel A subsequent literature review found that none of these factors was effective when implemented in isolation, however outcomes have been shown to improve when they are implemented in combination. Holistic view of improvements to asthma care suggested The authors recommend that improvements to asthma management at primary care level should be approached in a systematic manner as combinations of interventions appear to be most effective. It is also important to involve those living with asthma, policy makers and the whole healthcare system. The importance of a well-resourced primary care service was also highlighted. Monica Fletcher OBE said: ‘The National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) in the UK published in 2014, demonstrated that there were failings in that some of the most basic elements of care and the Report made several recommendations. Despite this in 2020, we are still struggling to significantly improve care consistently across the UK. This paper highlights that if there is to be radical change in the outcomes for patients with asthma, we need to take a systematic approach to care and invest in complex interventions and implementation research’ Read the article Read the article in the npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine Cite as Fletcher, M.J., Tsiligianni, I., Kocks, J.W.H. et al. Improving primary care management of asthma: do we know what really works?. npj Prim. Care Respir. Med. 30, 29 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41533-020-0184-0 Publication date 18 Dec, 2020
