15 Jul 2014

Asthma treating resources 'adequate'

7:16 pm on 15 July 2014

The Ministry of Health says health professionals already have enough access to resources to help treat asthma.

It comes after the Asthma Foundation's request to write new guidelines after government funding was declined.

The last guidelines were written more than a decade ago, and the foundation says it's a concern they are so out of date.

It means that treatments such as the SMART method, which is using just one inhaler which is both a reliever and a preventer, aren't widely known about.

The University of Auckland research shows the method reduced the risk of severe asthma attacks, even more so for Maori participants.

But the Ministry of Health says health professionals prefer online tools that are accessible during the course of a consultation with a patient.

It says unless guidelines are tightly integrated into clinical practice, they end up gathering dust on shelves.