Health Decisions Helping You and the Planet 🌍

Posted by: debraspencer2 - Posted on:

We want to be a greener GP Practice making greener health decisions and working more sustainably with YOU. As well as focusing on digital solutions and personal recycling to reduce wastage from an admin perspective, we are also reviewing what we can do clinically.

We are focusing on ASTHMA today.

❓ Did you know that patients with asthma can potentially significantly reduce the impact of their medication on the world in a couple of simple steps?

βœ… First, an important point: we LOVE ❀️ asthma inhalers – they keep you well! We aren’t posting to make you feel guilty for having asthma.

🀲 We want to share some ways that patients with asthma can get the most out of their medications.

βœ… Keeping you well! One of the best things that can be done to minimise the environmental impact of asthma is to keep you well, and control your asthma well, so that you need less β€œreliever” inhalers.

❓ Are you overusing your β€œreliever” inhaler?

If you are using it more than 3 times per week or more than 2 inhalers per year, then that indicates that we aren’t getting it right for you, and we’d love to try! Why not try our quiz here, to get a gauge of how well controlled your asthma is?

https://www.rateyourreliance.com/landing-page/patients.html

🌍Which reliever inhaler? Well shockingly, the least environmentally friendly salbutamol MDI (meter dose inhaler) has the equivalent environmental impact to doing a 175 mile car πŸš•πŸš•πŸš•πŸš• journey, whereas one salbutamol DPI (dry powder inhaler) has the impact of just a 4 mile journey πŸš•! DPIs aren’t for everyone as they don’t work with spacers, and you need to be able to take a deep prolonged breath. But they are generally easier to use, and less irritant.

❓ What about preventer inhalers?

βœ… Yes, there are DPIs for this as well. Not only that, but if you are, for example on 2 puffs twice a day of steroid inhaler, maybe you could talk to our nurse about having a stronger inhaler so you only need 1 puff of it twice a day!

♻️ Done with your inhaler? RECYCLE – If your inhaler is empty, then please take it to the pharmacy to dispose, as they will be able to do so in an environmentally friendly way (preventing any other gases that make up an inhaler from escaping into the world!)

☎️ PLEASE CALL US ON 0117 330 4225 TO BOOK YOUR ASTHMA REVIEW – YOU MAY WISH TO AVOID PEAK CALL WAITING TIMES AND CALL AFTER 9.30AM OR COME IN THE FRONT DOOR AND SPEAK TO US ☎️