Community pharmacy teams see asthma patients frequently, which makes them ideally placed to help improve these patients’ understanding of the role of different inhalers and reduce their over-reliance on SABAs.

Most SABA inhalers contain 200 puffs so, in theory, two SABA inhalers a year should be sufficient for a patient who is well controlled. Alarm bells should go off in the pharmacy when six SABA prescriptions have been collected by a patient in the past six months without a single ICS prescription being issued. Many respiratory specialists argue that concerns should be raised after two to three canisters of SABA.

LABAs in asthma

ICS and LABA are commonly prescribed in a single combination inhaler for people with asthma. Inappropriate prescriptions for LABA alone in asthma should always raise an alarm because the National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD) and national guidelines recommend not prescribing a LABA alone.