Children Resources

This article is a call to action for those involved with children and young people (CYP) who have (or might have) asthma. The evidence has been clear for some time that there is an identified peak in asthma attacks in mid-September, the ‘week 38’ phenomenon (Transformation partners in healthcare, 2022). However, what is often not discussed is that there is a time when we can perhaps pre-emptively act to avoid attack — and that time is now.

Winter is often seen to be the time to consider respiratory health. However, for patients who wheeze, entering autumn with healthy lungs is key to resilience to winter viruses and triggers. ‘Pre-emptive medicine’ is one of the key focuses in recent national
guidance (NHS England, 2021) and has been a pillar of best practice in both the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2021) and British Thoracic Society/Scottish Collegiate Guidelines Network (BTS/SIGN, 2019) guidance for some time. It is known that many asthma deaths are avoidable, and that there are many
so-called modifiable factors that can contribute to mortality in asthma (Royal College of Physicians [RCP], 2015).

Childhood continence problems are common. One in 12 children are affected by a bowel or bladder problem: that’s around three children in every primary school class. In an average
secondary school, around 30–40 of young people struggle with a wetting or soiling issue (Joinson et al, 2018).

Though incidents suchasthis highlight the fragilityof life, they also show thestrength of thehuman spirit.With terribletragedy comesselfless acts of kindness,from both members of thepublic and trained clinicians.

Continence problems in children can be very disabling for both the child and their families/carers. The need to have an indwelling catheter can be inconvenient and, even, traumatising for the child. There is also a social stigma associated with incontinence, continence care and catheters, which should not be underestimated. This article discusses how healthcare professionals can help children and families and thereby reduce the burden, both emotional and physical, of living with a catheter and then introduces a new range of leg bags that have been designed specifically with children in mind.

Mary Chatrath & Joan Gray discuss a project which addressed the health needs of women and children of Asian descent.
Mary Chatrath RN, RM, RHV is a Health Visitor, St Albans and Harpenden PCT.
Joan Gray BSc, RD is a Paediatric Dietitian, Hertfordshire.
Article accepted for publication: July 2006