The paediatric severe asthma team has a national and international reputation in the assessment and management of children with difficult to control asthma and severe pre-school wheeze.
We focus on diagnosing accurately, identifying and correcting modifiable factors, and assessing airway characteristics, to personalise care for each child. This is supported through our cutting-edge research programme.
Our work also includes assessment of school aged children for biological therapies (omalizumab, mepolizumab, dupilumab and tezepelumab). Our clinical nurse specialists (CNS) provide close support for children on biologic therapies.
Our consultants
Dr Sormeh Salehian
Dr John King
Referrals for school-aged asthma and pre-school wheeze
We accept referrals from primary and secondary care as well as from other tertiary care centres.
Referral guidelines can be found in the forms below. Please note these should serve as a guide and we are happy to accept referrals for patients who do not meet the criteria listed in the forms.
Referral to difficult asthma service (PDF, 103KB)
Pre-school wheeze referral form (PDF, 131 KB)
Exercise-induced breathlessness
We offer a specialist service for children and young athletes who experience breathlessness during exercise or other activities.
We carry out investigations such as cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET), test of airway hyper-responsiveness and forced oscillation technique (FOT) to assess airway function. Our physiotherapy team have specialist expertise in this area. They perform breathing pattern assessments and give advice on how to help improve breathing with exercise.
The physiotherapy department is unable to accept direct referrals. If you feel a child would benefit from specialist physiotherapy input please refer to one of the paediatric respiratory consultants.
Physiotherapy in the management of children and teenagers with asthma
We have created some learning resources, including a series of videos featuring exercises and interactive demonstrations that children and teenagers can use to help them learn about breathing patterns and breath training, techniques to help control asthma symptoms, and how exercise and physical activity can boost lung health and overall wellbeing.
- Resources page for children
- Resources page for teenagers and young adults
Shared care
For children referred from, or already under the care of, a secondary care centre, we offer shared care including joint multi-disciplinary team meetings.
Research
We have an active and innovative research programme to improve our understanding of the causes of asthma and pre-school wheeze, identify different types of asthma and reduce the risk of asthma attacks and asthma deaths.
Almost all children referred to our service are offered the opportunity to enrol in at least one of our on-going studies. We are also involved in national and international collaborations and commercial trials.