Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire. I, too, want to be associated with the compliments expressed to Senators Mary Ann O'Brien and Power on their motion and congratulate them. The motion is simple but it is on a condition that affects many people.

As I am the last speaker, many of my figures have already been quoted. It has been estimated that nearly 450,000 people in Ireland have doctor-diagnosed asthma, with many other cases going undiagnosed.It is one of the most common chronic conditions among Irish children and young adults. Despite more than two decades of international asthma management guidelines, the majority of people with asthma in Ireland continue to suffer avoidable illness and poor quality of life. Approximately 50,000 patients are established to use the GP out-of-hours service for the treatment of acute asthma in a year, as stated by my colleague, Senator Colm Burke. More than 19,000 people visit accident and emergency departments annually with acute asthma while more than 5,000 patients are admitted to hospital. Of these, approximately 100 are so severely ill that they are admitted to intensive care units.

The HSE's national clinical programme for asthma was set up to design and standardise the delivery of high-quality asthma care to all who need it. Through the understanding of the current health status and needs of people with asthma, the programme can target measures where they are needed and measure the effectiveness of any interventions. The initial focus of the national clinical programme for asthma has been the development of asthma education initiatives for patients and health care professionals, the development and implementation of national asthma guidelines and the organisation and better integration of national asthma services at primary and secondary care level. This approach has been shown to be effective at international level with significant improved outcomes both for patients and care givers. The national clinical programme for asthma is also focusing on improving asthma control in the community, thereby reducing acute asthma attendances at emergency departments, in-patient admissions and deaths from asthma. When one considers that there is one death per week according to my note, albeit I understand it may even be one per day, a large number of people are dying from asthma attacks. The national clinical programme for asthma has also focused on the development of national asthma guidelines based on international best practice both for acute care and ongoing asthma management. Emergency adult asthma guidelines and emergency paediatric asthma guidelines have been published and the reports can be located on the HSE's website.

Asthma control in general practice guidelines for managing patients with asthma in primary care settings have been developed and approved by the Irish College of General Practitioners. The model of care for asthma has been approved by the HSE leadership team and is due to be launched in the coming weeks. A national clinical programme for asthma will also contribute to the development of a chronic disease pathway and is being progressed by the HSE. A self-learning, six module, e-learning theoretical programme on asthma, based on the national evidence-based guidelines and developed by the NCPA in conjunction with the Asthma Society of Ireland, is freely available. In addition, a practical workshop is also being delivered by the respiratory clinic and nurse specialists for staff in primary and secondary care settings. To reflect the introduction of the under-sixes' free GP care contract, the NCPA is also in the process of updating educational programmes.

I will finish there, the rest of what I had to say having already being mentioned. I congratulate my colleagues for bringing forward the motion.