Last year’s November asthma thunderstorm caught headlines for all the wrong reasons, most particularly because it caught almost everybody by surprise. Tragically it led to nine deaths and left thousands in hospital. But what has been described as the world's worst recorded asthma thunderstorm is also now acting as the starting point for a vital review of what went wrong and how it can be avoided.

The ‘perfect storm’ of conditions which occurred last November luckily doesn’t occur too readily, but asthma sufferers well know individually these conditions are common enough. Last year what occurred was the turbulence caused by the thunderstorm storm stirred the dust, pollen and moisture on the worst kind of hot and humid day. The result from the storm was it burst the pollen into hundreds of tiny allergenic fragments and these were able to penetrate deep into victims’ airways. Some victims were not even known asthma sufferers. 

But the glaring result of this cacophony of factors was to push the state's emergency services to breaking point. At its worst there was a call for an ambulance every 4.5 seconds and 10,000 people presented at emergency departments. Some emergency departments reported their busiest night ever. So severe was the demand on services, some of the victims even died waiting for ambulances. Importantly, the legacy of tragedy is learning and as Emergency Management chief Tony Pearce has said, it is all about being prepared.

The report recommendations are many to meet this end; better communication between hospitals and other emergency services, getting pharmacies involved as often the first line of relief for sufferers, a new emergency warning system and pollen monitoring sites across Victoria. It also wants better predictive capacities and education campaigns to make sure everyone knows what to do at the first alarm signals.

Toward this end, next week’s Victorian budget will fund $15.56 million to meet some of these objectives. Better still, the government is confident it will be ready by the start of the pollen season on January 1.

While the effectiveness of these warnings and education are yet to be tested, it is one headline that will come as great relief for anxious sufferers.