By Mark Sullivan 
Each month, CREATION.co’s respiratory tracking update brings you the latest insights into the online UK healthcare professional (HCP) conversation regarding respiratory disease.
The conversation level of UK HCPs discussing respiratory disease on Twitter
This month between September and October, the activity of UK HCPs discussing respiratory disease online increased to over 4,000 mentions, an increase of 783 posts from the previous month, and the greatest number of posts for a month in 2021. The Non COVID-19 related conversation continued to make up the majority of the HCP mentions each day in this space.
The latest respiratory disease insights from UK HCPs online
The reason behind the surge of respiratory disease posts in the first week of the month was the awareness campaign ran by the NHS – #AskAboutAsthma. This campaign was mentioned in last month’s Respiratory tracker and maintained its early traction, with the aim to encourage helpful management strategies which can improve the quality of life for London’s children and young people living with asthma. 23 September saw the release of the conference slides, which HCPs interacted with as they discussed the campaign, sharing their approval of the ‘3 key messages’.
And we are off #askaboutasthma starts off its 5th year highlighting it's 3 key messages asthma plan, inhaler check and annual review @wenurses @WeCYPnurses @kennygibsonnhs @asthmauk @NHSEnglandLDN @NHSEngland pic.twitter.com/HEXbLdi6G9
— Sara Nelson (RN, QN) (@SaraNelsonRGN) September 23, 2021
With the focus of the campaign being on children and young people, it was fitting that on 23 September the NHS also released its ‘National bundle of care for children and young people with asthma’, a resource pack used to support integrated care systems in the delivery of high quality asthma care. 22 UK HCPs shared news of the release and championed for the distribution of the bundle into primary care networks, such as advanced nurse practitioner, Carla Astles.Not to be outdone, the PCRS Respiratory Conference 2021 was hosted on 24-25 September. Aimed at HCPs the conference covered everything from asthma and COPD to sleep apnoea, interstitial lung disease, spirometry and more. HCPs engaged in discussions around COPD and stated that diagnosis was an area for improvement in the therapy area. Furthermore, HCPs are already looking ahead to World COPD Day on 17 November.
If you have symptoms of any infectious respiratory disease, you should minimise human contact irrespective of what your PCR or lateral flow test says. It’s a British tradition to go to work or your GP when you’re shedding billions of virus particles, and it’s time we stopped it.
— Dr Phil Hammond 💙 (@drphilhammond) October 15, 2021
Finally, towards the end of the month, UK HCPs turned their attention towards the impending winter and assessed what this could mean for any potential COVID-19 developments. On 15 and 16 October, 97 UK HCPs shared Dr Phil Hammond’s tweet which advised the general public to minimise human contact and work from home if they were experiencing any symptoms of infectious respiratory disease. Other UK HCPs added to the post, stating they would welcome back previous restrictions. Furthermore, 32 UK HCPs shared Government research that concluded all types of face coverings are somewhat effective in reducing transmission of COVID-19, amongst other findings.
Each month, we track the HCP conversation relating to respiratory disease.
You can keep up to date with this and other pharmaceutical tracking updates, including COVID-19 developments, within the Tracking section of CREATION Knowledge, or sign up to receive our monthly eJournal with all of our latest HCP insights.
If you would like to dig deeper into what we have seen this month then please do get in touch.
Methodology
- This article analysed the Twitter conversations of HCPs in the UK discussing respiratory disease and related terms between 21 September and 20 October 2021 using CREATION Pinpoint®.
- Between 21 September and 20 October 2021, there were 4,224 UK HCP mentions of respiratory disease and related terms, from 1,771 unique UK HCP authors.
