NATIONAL SERVICE FRAMEWORK FOR ASTHMA

That this House acknowledges the high numbers of asthma patients in the UK; calls on the Government to introduce a National Service Framework for asthma care; notes with concern the number of deaths from asthma in the UK, currently standing at 1,400 per annum, with 40 of those being children aged under 14 years; further notes that 75 per cent. of the 69,000 hospital admissions due to asthma are avoidable and that these admissions cost the NHS nearly £900 million per year; and concludes that a National Service Framework for Asthma would make a valuable contribution to preventing deaths and unnecessary hospitalisations as a result of asthma and would ease the burden on parents of children who suffer from severe asthma.