Wishing you a Pink Christmas
The comforts and traditions associated with Christmas are enjoyable. The predictability gives us feelings of security. However, we have all experienced changes to our Christmas routines at various points in our lifetimes. Initially the change feels strange but then the new festive habits bed in and become the comfortable normal, until circumstances alter them again.
There is a similarity here with how we treat some medical conditions. We encourage patients to become comfortable with routines and patterns of symptoms. They learn how their bodies respond to medication and this provides them the security of knowing they have control over these symptoms. Asthma is the best example of this method of care.
The national guidelines for Asthma care are changing. They are now directing us to stop prescribing blue inhalers and replace them with a combination inhaler. Introducing this change will save lives; there are still a very large number of preventable asthma deaths across the UK.
The evidence shows that using a single inhaler (the surgery will use the pink Fostair inhaler) for almost all asthma patients greatly reduces the number of exacerbations patients experience, reduces hospital admissions and is a much better for the environment. Inhalers comprise 4% of the NHS Carbon footprint. Halving the number we use, plus using powder inhalers where possible, is on the same environmental scale as closing an international airport!
The combination inhaler contains a long acting ‘reliever’ (equivalent to the blue inhaler) and a small dose of steroid (equivalent to the previous brown inhalers). Inhaling both components at the same time is of great benefit for both short and long term control of asthma symptoms. The benefits are greatest for patients who previously only used a blue inhaler. You use the pink inhaler in the same way as the blue; it acts just as quickly, and the effect lasts a lot longer.
This is a very significant change for asthma patients; the security and reliability of their blue inhaler is deeply engrained over many years. Starting the brown inhaler alongside it if symptoms worsen is a firmly embedded learnt response. This is being replaced with simply increasing the number of pink inhalations. The new Single Inhaler regime does not change the thinking, it just removes the need for two inhalers and heightens the speed of response to the treatment.
We will start sending letters explaining the change to our asthma patients in December and so some might receive their first pink inhaler for Christmas. However, for the majority this will be in the New Year; a more traditional time to make changes and experience their benefits.
Happy Christmas and all our best wishes for 2025 from the team at Wyndham House
Anthony O’Brien