Annual Asthma Review
To get started with your annual asthma review, just fill out the short form below. This helps us keep track of your symptoms and make sure you’re getting the right care. In-person attendance at the practice is not required at this stage.
Our clinical team at Barclay Medical Practice actively monitors and reviews all online asthma review submissions. Once you send yours in, one of our clinicians will check your responses and reach out by phone or text if any changes to your medication are needed.
With the right treatment and care, people with asthma can control their symptoms and live normal, active lives. This is why asthma reviews—like the one that you’re doing now—are important. We need them to ensure you’re receiving the right treatment from us.
Here are some simple everyday guidelines you can follow to keep your asthma symptoms in check.
- Follow your treatment plan. This might include using different types of inhalers you have been given, such as reliever and preventer inhalers, and any medication you have been prescribed by us. Your treatment plan is personally designed for you by our clinicians to help manage your symptoms and reduce the risk of asthma attacks. Find out more about correct inhaler usage here.
- Always keep your reliever inhaler with you in case you need to deal with symptoms quickly.
- Identify and avoid your triggers. An asthma trigger is anything that irritates your airways and makes your asthma symptoms worse. Some common ones include respiratory infections (e.g. colds, flu, chest infections, COVID-19), extreme temperatures, exposure to cigarette or e-cigarette smoke, pollen, exercise or physical activity, pets, strong emotions and/or stress, alcohol, recreational drugs and hormonal fluctuations. You may have one or multiple triggers—they’re different for everyone. Knowing what these are can help you avoid them and lower your risk of experiencing symptoms.
- Check before taking other medicines. Some medicines are not suitable for people with asthma. Ask a pharmacist or a Barclay Medical Practice clinician if you’re not sure.
- Do not smoke. If you smoke or breathe in smoke from someone else’s cigarette (or e-cigarette), it can irritate your airways. This is because there are toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke and vapour. The NHS strongly advises any asthma patients who smoke to quit. If this is you, we have lots of useful information to get you started on quitting smoking, as well as a supportive clinical team that will back your decision.
If asthma is affecting your breathing, we may prescribe you with an inhaler. One of our clinicians will show you how to use the inhaler properly and let you know how often you should use it to get the best results.
The NHS recommends the following general steps for using them:
- Remove the mouthpiece cover by squeezing both sides and pulling out. Check the mouthpiece for foreign objects before use.
- Shake the inhaler well, breathe out fully, then place the mouthpiece into your mouth. Close your lips around the mouthpiece.
- Start breathing in deeply and slowly while taking in 1 puff. Keep breathing in until you can’t anymore.
- Hold your breath for as long as you can, up to 10 seconds.
- Repeat step 2 for a second puff if informed by a clinician that this is your required dosage.
- Put the mouthpiece cover back on.
- Rinse your mouth with water, then spit out the water. Do not swallow.
Watch an instructional video on how to use your specific inhaler. Make sure you also check your inhaler’s instruction manual to learn how to prime a new inhaler, and to clean and maintain your inhaler to prevent medication buildup and blockages.
