How NHS LPP helped improve respiratory prescribing
Dr Vince Mak Consultant in Respiratory Integrated Care, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust shared how NHS LPP made an impact on respiratory patient care at our 20th Anniversary event held in London on 17 September 2026.
Around 12-15 years ago, “It was unbelievable how much we spent on respiratory inhalers, and also staggering, was how much wastage there was. It was like the Wild West out there” Dr. Mak said. Respiratory was one of the highest spend areas in the NHS and ultimately excessive use of respiratory inhalers wasn’t good for patients.
The dashboard that NHS LPP created was the precursor to inform and influence the creation of national data sets and dashboards that were developed nationally by NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA). They highlighted the huge unwarranted variation in prescribing and areas of potentially poor care and wastage across various NHS organisations around 2012-2015.
Because of the dashboards that were developed, there was an ability to target prescribing organisations and achieve improved care through dissemination of data and peer comparison. In time, unwarranted variation was reduced, supporting better patient health - and ultimately leading to an estimated £3million savings per month and £300million over the last 10 years.
We would like to thank Dr Mak for helping us to remember this story during our 20th Anniversary celebrations. From unwarranted variation to better patient care, NHS LPP are proud to have helped make a positive difference on respiratory prescribing.
If you have any healthcare and pharmacy service challenges, please contact our Healthcare and Pharmacy Services team for an informal conversation to see if we can help you.
Please also don’t forget to visit our RightBreath inhaler website at www.rightbreathe.com for all the latest inhaler prescribing information - whether you are a patient, member of the public or a healthcare professional.