27: How a new test is improving asthma care

<div>It’s suspected that 30 per cent of 5.4 million patients currently diagnosed with asthma in the UK have been misdiagnosed. <br> <br> </div> <div>The NHS spends £1.1 billion on asthma treatment and management annually, with 90 per cent of this cost going directly on medication, including the prescription of steroid inhalers. </div> <div><br> </div> <div>In this episode, we hear about a programme to improve the diagnosis and management of asthma within primary care, involving the spread of a breathing test called FeNO. <br> <br> </div> <div>This test looks at how much nitric oxide – a type of gas – is in your breath when you breath out and can show the level of inflammation in the lungs. The test is easy to do, you simply breath into a tube - and it takes less than a minute. FeNO testing is a key piece in the diagnostic jigsaw and can help improve care for people with asthma.<br> <br> </div> <div>Host Dr Phil Jennings talks to severe asthma sufferer Emma Thompson and Carol Stonham, a Senior Nurse Practitioner and the Executive Chair of the Primary Care Respiratory Society.<br> <br> </div> <div>Carol is a member of the national FeNO programme, one of the Rapid Uptake Product programmes, run by the NHS England Accelerated Access Collaborative with the support of the AHSN Network.<br> <br> </div> <div>Find out more about the <a href="https://www.ahsnnetwork.com/accelerated-access-collaborative">Rapid Uptake Products (RUP) programme</a>, designed to support stronger adoption and spread of proven innovations. <br> <br> Professionals can access a wide range of support tools for implementing FeNO testing, on the Wessex AHSN <a href="https://wessexahsn.org.uk/programmes/56/feno-fractional-exhaled-nitric-oxide-for-the-diagnosis-and-management-of-asthma">website.</a> </div>