§ Viscount Simonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether all staff working in the National Health Service are trained on what to do in the event of an asthma attack; and [HL2590]
When high quality treatment, care and information from asthma-trained health professionals will be available to all 5.1 million people with asthma in the United Kingdom regardless of their postcode. [HL2589]
§ Baroness AndrewsInformation on the training individual National Health Service staff receive is not held centrally.
For doctors, the content and standard of postgraduate medical training is the responsibility of the United Kingdom competent authorities, the Specialist Training Authority for specialist medicine and, for general practice, the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice. Their role is that of custodians of quality standards in postgraduate medical education and practice. They are independent of the Department of Health. In addition, the General Medical Council's Education Committee has the general function of promoting high standards of medical education and co-ordinating all stages of medical education to ensure that students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice.
All of these bodies have a vested interest in ensuring that doctors are equipped to deal with the problems they will encounter in practice—both in hospital and in general practice—including conditions such as asthma. It is not however practicable or desirable for the Government to prescribe the exact training that any individual doctor will receive.
Patients with asthma, their families and carers are able to access the full range of NHS services for asthma sufferers. The information, support and services an individual receives will depend on the extent and severity of asthma they have.
Under the terms of the Chronic Disease Management Programme for Asthma, general practitioners are required to prepare with the patient an individual management plan.