NHS England and NHS Improvement’s ambition is to reduce avoidable harm to children and young people with asthma and improve their quality of life. This will be achieved by taking a whole system approach to asthma management that includes addressing environmental triggers, a comprehensive education programme, promoting personalised care, effective preventative medicine, and improved accuracy of diagnosis.
NHS England and Improvement have been working with key stakeholders, including young people and their families, to develop a National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with Asthma to support local systems with the management of asthma care. The programme sets out the blueprint of evidence-based interventions to help children, young people, families, and carers, to control and reduce the risk of asthma attacks and to prevent avoidable harm. The bundle outlines key standards in the care of CYP with asthma throughout every stage of the patient pathway.
A key element to ensure children and young people with asthma receive high standards of asthma care, is relevant training for professionals. One of the outputs of the training, education and competencies national working group has been the development of a capability framework.
This framework has been developed to allow individuals, employers, and integrated care systems to be aware of the skills and knowledge that are required to ensure they can safely care for a child and young person with asthma. The framework is aimed at both health and non-healthcare professionals across all aspects of a child’s life, including childcare providers, education providers, uniformed services, sports coaches, social services and health care workers.
The framework was developed by NHS England and NHS Improvement in collaboration with key stakeholders including CYP and their families, national experts and arm’s length bodies such as Royal Colleges, professional bodies and Health Education England. Current national guidelines and recommendations were incorporated including the British Thoracic Society/Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (BTS/SIGN) national asthma guidelines, Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), the NICE asthma guidelines, the National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) report, National Asthma and COPD Audit Programme (NACAP) and the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) investigation into childhood asthma report and recommendations.
The framework divides different roles into 5 ‘tiers’. A tier describes the level of care a person may be expected to deliver to a child or young person with asthma. The more involved the care, the higher the level of tier.
The tiers are not profession specific, but rather describe the minimum required knowledge and skills any individual must possess to safely carry out their role in caring for a child or young person with asthma. Individuals should look at their own role and choose the tier most appropriate to the care they deliver.
It is assumed that for healthcare professionals undertaking the training they will already have appropriate training and skills relevant in the care of children and young people. These courses are to provide additional training specifically relating to asthma and should sit alongside appropriate frameworks of training, supervision and mentoring as required.
Use the drop down boxes to find an accredited course to help support you achieve the capabilities you need:
Please review the table below to schedule study time to undertake course modules to gain accreditation and certification for completing this course.
Module | Title | Duration |
1 | Introduction and Asthma Awareness | 40 mins |
2 | Diagnosing Asthma | 45 mins |
3 | Managing Chronic Asthma | 30 mins |
4 | Self-Management | 40 mins |
5 | Recognition Of Poor Asthma Control | 30 mins |
6 | Module 6: Recognition Of An Acute Asthma Attack | 30 mins |
7 | Module 7: Management of An Acute Asthma Attack | 30 mins |
8 | Module 8: Socio-economic Aspects Of Asthma | 20 mins |
9 | Module 9: Supporting Families | 30 mins |
10 | Module 10: The Wider Environment and Asthma | 30 mins |
11 | Module 11: Leadership and Education | 30 mins |
End of course Assessment and Course Closure |
Paediatric Asthma Advancing Care Course (online) provided by Rotherham Respiratory
Health care professionals who have been practising at tier 4 level for some time may prefer to complete a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate they have acquired the skills and knowledge for this tier, rather than complete an online module. Please refer to the section below on developing a portfolio of evidence.
Healthcare professionals practising at tier 5 level should complete a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate they have acquired the skills and knowledge for this tier. Please refer to the section below on developing a portfolio of evidence.
For further resources please see the National bundle of care for children and young people with asthma.
This portfolio template can be adapted for local use. The purpose of the portfolio is to demonstrate that a health care professional is capable to deliver the skills and the Learning Outcomes of each of the 10 capabilities at tiers 4 or 5.
The portfolio should be reviewed through an agreed Integrated Care System led process to certify the individual has achieved the required level of capability to deliver that tier of CYP asthma care. This process may involve review by the local asthma network, or a nominated ICS asthma lead.
Click here to see the template.
Original sponsor: East of England Clinical Networks
In order to access the Asthma programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.
To view the Asthma programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.
NHS healthcare staff in England – ESR
The Asthma programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this e-learning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.
If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.
To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.
If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Asthma programme, please contact elfh directly.
For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.
Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.
If you have feedback on the programme please contact england.cyptransformation@nhs.net