Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are plans for the NHS to put in place system incentives to reduce overreliance on SABA due to (a) environmental and (b) clinical concerns posed by such overreliance.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are considering the feasibility of introducing system incentives to increase appropriate prescribing of inhaled corticosteroid inhalers and to improve the prescribing of short-acting beta-agonists inhalers. The aim will be to improve patient outcomes but also reduce carbon emissions.

An update to the General Practitioner Contract for 2020/21 to 2023/24 includes an improved Quality Outcome Framework asthma domain. This incorporates aspects of care positively associated with better patient outcomes and asthma control, including a review of inhaler technique and record of exacerbations.