Diagnosing Asthma
Introduction
This article will support you with diagnosing patients with Asthma. It will describe to you the contractual requirements for doing so as well as signposting to useful national guidance which can help. PCIT have included both NICE and SIGN guidance. NICE guidance can be harder to implement due to non commissioning of FeNO testing or spirometry - the SIGN guidance can be useful if this is a challenge in your area
Contractual requirements
For AST011 for QOF, patients diagnosed after April 2023 need to have specific elements of care recorded in their record. You can see our fuller article detailing the requirements and how to achieve these here.
NICE Guidance on Diagnosis
NICE have a number of algorithms to aid with Asthma Diagnosis
Algorithm A covers the initial clinical assessment for adults, young people and children with suspected asthma:
Algorithm B covers objective tests for asthma in children and young people aged 5-16
Algorithm C covers objective tests for asthma in adults aged 17 and over:
SIGN Guidance 158
SIGN published a very helpful flow chart which aids with the diagnosis of Asthma:
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