The Adult Asthma Service

​​Our Mission Statement

Our service - during COVID19 outbreak

The asthma service has been impacted by the COVID 19 outbreak like all other areas of the NHS.  This will mean significant changes for our patients and the services we can provide.  We are following national advice on management of services like ours and prioritising care.  We are doing our best to balance the interests of our patients and the interests of the wider community and hospital facing this challenge.  We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.

Our priorities are to:

  1. Provide care to patients to prevent hospital admission.
  2. Maintain the high quality of care we are proud to deliver as far as we can.
  3. Prevent spread of coronavirus by following government advice
  4. Support our hospital’s challenge in managing the COVID-19 patients.
  5. Look after staff health and well-being

VULNERABLE PATIENTS:

Some of our severe asthma patients are at increased risk of more severe disease from COVID- 19.  It is difficult to make an accurate assessment of each person’s risk.  However we understand that it is useful to have some guidance in this regard we have highlighted useful information available on the websites below:

For vulnerable patients:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults

For high risk patients:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19

 www.asthma.org.uk  also has some useful supportive information.

Please ensure you adhere to your medication regime to optimise your asthma control during this difficult time. There is no need to “stock pile” medication, but please ensure that you do not run out of your prescription.

CONTACT DETAILS

We are aware that it is difficult to get information at this time and we are doing our best to make sure that there is always a way that our patients can contact the service for urgent help even with reduced staffing levels.  There may not be someone available to answer your call, but please leave a message and someone will get back to you; or alternatively email us on the below address.

Urgent queries about your condition or treatment:

Asthma nurse specialists; Angela Cooper & Princy Kallukalam     01782 674068

uhnm.adultasthma@nhs.net

Administrative queries  : Asthma Coordinator- Rambhajan Dubb     01782 675948

CLINICS

Follow up appointments:  All our clinics have now been converted to telephone consultations and we will run clinics for as long as possible. 

New patient appointments: most of these appointments have been cancelled, but in some instances we will try and contact patients and do a telephone assessment.

In patient treatment:  We are home training our Omalizumab patients to administer medication at home. Severe asthma patients with an indwelling port a cath will attend outpatients department and will be contacted by the asthma nurses.

 

OUR STAFF

By reducing our service to the minimum during the outbreak, members of the team have been made available to support other areas of the hospital under pressure.  We will endeavour to have a member of staff checking any phone messages on a daily basis and will respond to your query at soon as possible.

To improve asthma control through partnership working with patients.​

Mission statement: To improve asthma control through partnership working with patients

Our aims and objectives

The core aims of the asthma service will be to improve patient outcomes, including decreased exacerbation frequency, measured by reductions in emergency visits, hospital admissions and oral steroid courses, as well as improved mortality, improved lung function and improved quality of life.

 The objectives include:

  • Ensuring people have the correct diagnosis and receive appropriate treatment
  • To identify and minimise exposure to aeroallergen, occupational triggers and smoking
  • To improve adherence to prescribed therapies using patient education and health psychology when required
  • To recognise, treat and where possible, prevent the complications of long-term oral corticosteroids
  • To decrease exacerbation frequency and improve patient quality of life through effective self-management and appropriate patient support, including telephone clinics, rapid access review and other appropriate support when required
  • To enhance research and education in this area of unmet clinical need, including patient's enrolment in clinical trials through work with West Midlands Clinical Asthma Research Network (WMCARN)

Adult Clinics – Based in Outpatients at Royal Stoke University Hospital

We hold a number of asthma clinics here at RSUH for patients aged 17 years and over:

Consultant-Led Severe Asthma Clinic
Held on Thursday afternoon of each week with support from the Clinical Nurse Specialist and a Respiratory Registrar.

Nurse-Led Asthma Clinics
Held on Monday and Friday mornings of each week.

Nurse-Led Omalizumab Clinic
Held each Wednesday throughout the day.

Joint Asthma and Obstetric Clinic
Held once per month on a Monday morning with the Asthma Clinical Nurse Specialist and Obstetrics.

Joint Respiratory Psychiatry Liaison Clinic
Held once per month on a Tuesday morning with the Asthma Clinical Nurse Specialist and a Psychiatrist.

If you are unable to attend your clinic appointment, please contact the team to rearrange.

You can check-in for your appointment via the kiosks in the main atrium at RSUH or alternatively you can check-in at the Outpatients department reception.  Your appointment letter may contain instructions for you to follow - please ensure that you do follow all instructions given.  At your appointment, the following will normally happen:​

Measurements will be taken – heart rate, oxygen levels, peak flow, height and weight

If required, you will be taken to have breathing and/or allergy tests.

You will be reviewed alongside test results by either the Consultant, Clinical Nurse Specialist or the Registrar.

A management plan will be devised for each individual patient.

Dr E Idris - Consultant Respiratory Physician and Asthma Lead

Dr Idris trained in London and was based at the Royal Brompton Hospital, with FRCP obtained in Edinburgh.  His certificate of completion of specialist training (CCST) in respiratory and general medicine was obtained in 2009 and MSc in Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College, London.  

Dr Idris' post-graduate certificate in Medical Education was achieved at the University of Wales, Cardiff.   Dr Idris has also completed clinical trial work, including asthma trials phase 1, 2 and 3. 

Angela Cooper, Clinical Nurse Specialist

Angela qualified in 1992 and has worked within respiratory medicine and intensive care for a number of years. For the past 11 years  she has worked as a member of the asthma team.  

Her specialist interests are severe asthma, psychology and allergy. Angela has attained BN (Hons) Critical Care and degree modules in asthma, COPD and allergy. She is a non-medical prescriber.​

Princy Kallukalam, Asthma Support Nurse

Princy qualified in 1998 and started her career within the NHS in 2006. Princy has worked within different specialities such as Cardiology, Operation Theatres, and medical wards. 

She joined Royal Stoke University Hospital in 2008 where she worked in Cardiac critical care for the last eight years. She here attained q BSc (Hons) in Critical Care Clinical Practice and has completed the Principles of Health Assessment module (Master's level) . She joined the asthma team in July 2015. 

Olivia Darley, Technical Assistant

Olivia started her career within the NHS in 2011, where she started as an apprentice at Royal Stoke's Audiology department.

Olivia completed the NHS City and Guilds Medical Diploma alongside other qualifications. She moved to the Imaging department three years ago and then joined the asthma team in November 2015. She is currentlyworking towards gaining an additional qualification. 

Vicky Bromley, Adult Asthma Co-ordinator

Vicky has worked within the respiratory department since 2005 where she started as an apprentice.  She has worked in a variety of specialities including allergy, bronchiectasis, ILD and lung cancer.  

Vicky is the newest member of our team, joining us in January 2016. She hopes to share her respiratory knowledge and bring new ideas into the service.