National Review of Asthma Deaths

Get involved with NRAD by:

• notifying us of an asthma death meeting our inclusion criteria occurring between 1 February 2012 – 31 January 2013 - details of how to notify us
• becoming a panel assessor: we are recruiting professionals with an interest in respiratory medicine - find out more about the role and how to apply
• finding out about raising awareness for this project 
• receiving project updates and information - register to receive our newsletter.

Please be aware that the NRAD remains on the HQIP Quality Accounts list for 2013/14.  The reason for this is that due to the delay in some cases being notified to us and/or the delay in information being received from hospitals and GP practices we will be continuing to request information up to and including September 2013.

Background to the NRAD

For a 12-month period from 1 February 2012, deaths from asthma in the UK will be reviewed systematically and will be subject to an in-depth multidisciplinary confidential enquiry. By engaging with health professionals, the project will explore the individual circumstances surrounding the death – for example the medical care received, the environmental conditions etc.

It is not clear why the number of deaths per year from asthma in the UK has not reduced significantly from around 1,200 for many years, even though it is widely accepted that there are preventable factors in 90% of deaths. The aim of the project is to understand why people of all ages die from asthma so that recommendations can be made to prevent deaths from asthma in the future.

We are expecting the NRAD to build on previous confidential enquiries into asthma deaths in regions of the UK and to provide a more robust body of evidence on which to build our understanding of how life-threatening situations arise and how they can be avoided in future. The learning from the NRAD project will be fed back into clinical practice so that people receive higher quality care and we can reduce deaths from asthma in time, in line with the outcome on reducing mortality from respiratory diseases in the NHS Outcomes Framework 2011/12.

Contact us

Dr Mark L Levy
NRAD clinical lead

Navin Puri
NRAD programme manager

Rachael Andrews (nee Davey)
NRAD project coordinator

Tel: +44 (0)20 3075 1522 or 1500
Fax: +44 (0)20 7487 3988
Email: nrad@rcplondon.ac.uk
Web: www.rcplondon.ac.uk/nrad

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­National Review of Asthma Deaths
Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit (CEEU)
Clinical Standards Department
Royal College of Physicians
11 St Andrews Place
Regent's Park
London NW1 4LE