For most people this involves attending the specialist bronchiectasis outpatient clinic at 6 to 12 month intervals to allow assessment of your condition. If your condition is milder you may be followed up by your GP.
Tests
A range of tests will be carried out at each clinic visit. Breathing tests and sputum sample analysis will be carried out at every visit whilst others, such as CT scans and chest x-rays will be less regular.
Stable or Deteriorating
These tests allow the doctors to determine whether your condition is stable or deteriorating and this allows them to assess whether the treatment plan needs to change. Always ask the doctor what the results show to find out how you are doing.
Quality of Life Questionnaires
Another way to assess how well you are doing involves you completing health quality of life questionnaires, which ask a range of questions about how your day to day living has been affected by your bronchiectasis since you last attended the clinic. These questionnaires are tried and tested; over time they give a good indication of how effective treatments are.
Last Reviewed -10th July 2019