Kick Asthma holiday: Day two

Every morning we check that the children are using their medicines.

Research shows that up to half of all medicines prescribed for long-term conditions are not used as intended, and failure to use medicines is one of the causes of high emergency admissions for hospital. This year the young people seem to be pretty good at using their inhalers but there are exceptions and we talk through why medicines are so important. Some of them have sports bags full of medicines and it takes them 20 minutes to get set up for the day.

It helps that so many of the volunteers have asthma too and can describe our own experiences of why medicines matter. Inhaler technique tested, we also see if children can better their peak flow scores as they go through the week. Although most of the kids are using their inhalers, several young people with ezcema are not using their creams, and their skin is dry and itchy.

We encourage them to put on their creams and their skin quickly improves.Today's treasure hunt went well, we had to scour the large grounds of Fettes College to find the clues and perform the tasks. Activity groups are now practising their asthma raps and superhero performances for show to the whole group this evening.

But there is little time for rehearsal as the bus collects us for swimming. We have the exclusive use of a whole pool for the afternoon.

Only the first full day and it's wonderful to see the young people so settled, reunited with old friends or playing with new ones. It's going to be a brilliant week.

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