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Publication - Advice and guidance

Respiratory conditions - quality prescribing strategy: improvement guide 2024 to 2027

Published
22 April 2024
Directorate
Health and Social Care Finance, Digital and Governance Directorate
Part of
Health and social care
ISBN
9781836011071

Respiratory conditions are a major contributor to ill health, disability, and premature death – the most common conditions being asthma and COPD. This quality prescribing guide is designed to ensure people with respiratory conditions are at the centre of their treatment.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Appendix 3: Data tables from indicator charts

Table 7: People prescribed six or more short-acting beta-agonists (SABA) per annum (Chart 1)
NHS Board July 2020 to June 2021 July 2021 to June 2022 July 2022 to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 33.8% 30.4% 28.9%
NHS Borders 32.8% 30.0% 28.9%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 34.6% 31.6% 30.2%
NHS Fife 34.2% 31.7% 31.4%
NHS Forth Valley 31.0% 28.2% 27.5%
NHS Grampian 29.1% 26.9% 25.9%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 38.0% 34.2% 32.8%
NHS Highland 32.0% 29.1% 27.2%
NHS Lanarkshire 36.5% 32.8% 31.9%
NHS Lothian 34.0% 30.7% 28.4%
NHS Orkney 27.2% 23.2% 18.8%
NHS Shetland 28.5% 25.9% 22.3%
NHS Tayside 33.4% 30.2% 29.2%
NHS Western Isles 35.0% 32.1% 32.5%
Scotland 34.7% 31.4% 30.0%
Table 8: People prescribed three or more short-acting beta-agonists (SABA) per annum (Chart 2)
NHS Board July 2020 to June 2021 July 2021 to June 2022 July 2022 to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 57.3% 53.4% 51.8%
NHS Borders 55.1% 52.5% 52.0%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 56.6% 53.2% 52.4%
NHS Fife 56.5% 54.5% 53.9%
NHS Forth Valley 54.5% 52.0% 51.4%
NHS Grampian 52.7% 50.2% 49.1%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 59.3% 55.6% 53.7%
NHS Highland 54.3% 51.0% 49.8%
NHS Lanarkshire 60.0% 55.7% 54.6%
NHS Lothian 56.1% 53.2% 51.1%
NHS Orkney 48.5% 44.6% 41.1%
NHS Shetland 50.8% 48.1% 45.6%
NHS Tayside 55.8% 53.0% 52.2%
NHS Western Isles 56.9% 53.5% 53.1%
Scotland 57.2% 53.9% 52.5%
Table 9: Number of SABA pMDIs prescribed per 1,000 list size (Chart 3)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 114.61 119.76 119.86
NHS Borders 120.98 130.21 128.55
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 140.51 145.73 140.31
NHS Fife 118.09 129.24 129.35
NHS Forth Valley 93.88 103.08 130.17
NHS Grampian 87.39 93.80 91.72
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 117.91 122.18 125.41
NHS Highland 107.32 112.43 109.31
NHS Lanarkshire 125.64 133.42 133.13
NHS Lothian 97.17 100.63 94.33
NHS Orkney 86.36 94.03 85.58
NHS Shetland 95.76 107.81 100.32
NHS Tayside 115.03 120.42 120.11
NHS Western Isles 123.35 137.22 135.94
Scotland 110.26 116.15 116.56
Table 10: High dose corticosteroid inhalers as a percentage of all corticosteroid inhaler items (using 2019 SIGN/BTS classification of high dose) (Chart 4)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 15.8% 14.5% 12.2%
NHS Borders 14.2% 15.3% 15.7%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 15.7% 15.0% 12.6%
NHS Fife 20.4% 21.4% 22.7%
NHS Forth Valley 15.8% 16.3% 15.8%
NHS Grampian 16.2% 16.1% 15.6%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 17.6% 18.0% 18.6%
NHS Highland 23.2% 22.3% 22.1%
NHS Lanarkshire 16.5% 16.8% 17.8%
NHS Lothian 18.1% 18.4% 18.9%
NHS Orkney 19.9% 18.1% 18.9%
NHS Shetland 19.5% 17.5% 16.4%
NHS Tayside 12.4% 13.0% 12.2%
NHS Western Isles 19.9% 18.1% 17.7%
Scotland 17.2% 17.3% 17.3%
Table 11: People prescribed a LABA without ICS per 1000 patient size (Chart 5)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 0.65 0.66 0.63
NHS Borders 0.48 0.36 0.31
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 0.77 0.57 0.46
NHS Fife 0.50 0.43 0.30
NHS Forth Valley 0.21 0.17 0.15
NHS Grampian 0.14 0.12 0.10
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 0.79 0.63 0.51
NHS Highland 0.50 0.40 0.33
NHS Lanarkshire 0.13 0.13 0.12
NHS Lothian 0.21 0.19 0.17
NHS Orkney 0.27 0.18 0.04
NHS Shetland 0.17 0.13 0.22
NHS Tayside 0.30 0.26 0.19
NHS Western Isles 1.22 0.92 0.66
Scotland 0.42 0.36 0.29
Table 12: Prescribing of SABA only (in absence of other inhalers) (Chart 6)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 19.7% 21.6% 21.3%
NHS Borders 20.2% 21.8% 21.2%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 21.2% 22.2% 21.8%
NHS Fife 21.9% 23.0% 22.5%
NHS Forth Valley 20.6% 21.8% 21.0%
NHS Grampian 20.1% 22.0% 22.0%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 21.0% 22.6% 21.8%
NHS Highland 21.5% 23.1% 22.3%
NHS Lanarkshire 19.9% 21.6% 20.7%
NHS Lothian 21.5% 23.2% 22.2%
NHS Orkney 19.3% 22.8% 21.8%
NHS Shetland 18.8% 20.7% 18.1%
NHS Tayside 19.5% 20.0% 19.4%
NHS Western Isles 21.7% 23.6% 24.0%
Scotland 20.7% 22.2% 21.5%
Table 13: Number of montelukast doses prescribed per 1000 list size of population (Chart 7)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 684.65 708.69 754.26
NHS Borders 620.71 617.89 631.82
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 639.92 702.01 755.10
NHS Fife 704.61 732.91 755.32
NHS Forth Valley 609.75 629.23 685.04
NHS Grampian 536.92 552.78 584.97
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 416.17 428.70 458.94
NHS Highland 516.94 547.05 583.13
NHS Lanarkshire 705.80 743.00 813.82
NHS Lothian 402.40 404.47 424.39
NHS Orkney 520.30 631.71 676.26
NHS Shetland 826.26 868.81 924.78
NHS Tayside 612.94 610.73 641.19
NHS Western Isles 411.60 463.65 602.05
Scotland 541.43 558.63 594.72
Table 14: Number of people with severe asthma receiving biologics as a proportion of the estimated severe asthma population (Chart 8)
NHS Board Total number of patients on biologics for severe asthma Severe asthmatics receiving biologics per 100,000 weighted population Potential population with severe asthma (est 4% of asthma population)
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 58 5.10% 1,141
NHS Borders 21 7.10% 295
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 26 5.90% 439
NHS Fife 30 3.10% 976
NHS Forth Valley 62 7.70% 803
NHS Grampian 151 10.80% 1,400
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 397 11.00% 3,606
NHS Highland 64 7.60% 840
NHS Lanarkshire 140 7.20% 1,951
NHS Lothian 201 9.00% 2,239
NHS Tayside 180 16.20% 1,111
Scotland 1,330 9.00% 14,802
Table 15: Number of people prescribed mucolytics long term (≥2 years) per 1,000 weighted list size (Chart 9)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 2.07 1.97 1.77
NHS Borders 1.35 1.35 1.34
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 1.92 1.74 1.49
NHS Fife 0.77 0.73 0.59
NHS Forth Valley 1.63 1.41 1.27
NHS Grampian 0.78 0.89 0.81
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 2.22 1.98 1.67
NHS Highland 1.07 1.07 1.12
NHS Lanarkshire 1.97 1.83 1.69
NHS Lothian 0.36 0.36 0.38
NHS Orkney 1.21 1.59 1.56
NHS Shetland 0.48 0.58 0.53
NHS Tayside 0.83 0.69 0.53
NHS Western Isles 2.32 2.35 2.46
Scotland 1.45 1.35 1.19
Table 16: Number of people receiving triple therapy (either as separate or single inhalers) (Chart 10)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 14.53 14.84 15.63
NHS Borders 11.57 11.97 12.10
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 14.67 14.99 15.50
NHS Fife 9.86 10.69 11.38
NHS Forth Valley 11.66 11.69 11.98
NHS Grampian 8.65 9.00 9.41
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 11.71 11.98 12.45
NHS Highland 9.18 9.63 10.03
NHS Lanarkshire 13.38 13.72 14.30
NHS Lothian 8.25 8.27 8.50
NHS Orkney 8.73 9.20 9.98
NHS Shetland 7.42 7.96 8.19
NHS Tayside 11.62 12.46 13.66
NHS Western Isles 6.49 6.54 6.13
Scotland 10.93 11.25 11.74
Table 17: Number of people prescribed triple therapy as a single device as a proportion of all patients prescribed triple therapy (Chart 11)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 53.8% 58.9% 65.8%
NHS Borders 48.1% 57.4% 63.1%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 48.0% 56.1% 62.4%
NHS Fife 55.6% 61.9% 67.2%
NHS Forth Valley 63.9% 73.0% 76.4%
NHS Grampian 63.8% 69.9% 76.2%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 54.9% 59.3% 64.8%
NHS Highland 55.1% 63.5% 68.7%
NHS Lanarkshire 49.4% 57.8% 65.3%
NHS Lothian 58.1% 62.3% 66.6%
NHS Orkney 53.9% 58.3% 64.9%
NHS Shetland 54.4% 61.2% 71.3%
NHS Tayside 65.0% 66.5% 68.6%
NHS Western Isles 32.0% 42.4% 58.4%
Scotland 56.1% 61.8% 67.3%
Table 18: Respiratory Costs per treated patient (Chart 12)
NHS Board July 2020 to June 2021 July 2021 to June 2022 July 2022 to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran £181 £164 £160
NHS Borders £175 £161 £162
NHS Dumfries & Galloway £173 £156 £151
NHS Fife £176 £163 £163
NHS Forth Valley £184 £168 £167
NHS Grampian £173 £158 £158
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde £183 £166 £168
NHS Highland £180 £163 £159
NHS Lanarkshire £186 £166 £164
NHS Lothian £169 £153 £150
NHS Orkney £164 £146 £136
NHS Shetland £153 £137 £127
NHS Tayside £182 £177 £174
NHS Western Isles £160 £138 £134
Scotland £180 £165 £163
Table 19: Proportion of generically prescribed inhalers as a proportion of all inhaler (excluding salbutamol) (Chart 13)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 7.7% 6.4% 6.5%
NHS Borders 7.9% 7.0% 8.0%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 14.5% 13.1% 14.1%
NHS Fife 6.6% 6.0% 7.0%
NHS Forth Valley 5.0% 4.4% 4.8%
NHS Grampian 7.2% 6.7% 7.2%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 8.8% 7.6% 7.0%
NHS Highland 7.6% 6.8% 7.4%
NHS Lanarkshire 6.4% 5.9% 6.3%
NHS Lothian 8.7% 7.4% 6.7%
NHS Orkney 8.0% 6.6% 6.4%
NHS Shetland 10.7% 9.2% 11.1%
NHS Tayside 5.0% 4.7% 4.7%
NHS Western Isles 20.2% 18.7% 34.2%
Scotland 7.7% 6.9% 7.0%
Table 20: CO2 Emissions (kg) per 1000 patients on list size (including targets) (Chart 14)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 36.48 38.42 38.85
NHS Borders 38.56 41.07 40.21
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 45.62 47.38 45.89
NHS Fife 35.81 38.95 39.15
NHS Forth Valley 29.45 32.36 38.71
NHS Grampian 25.71 27.52 27.40
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 36.31 37.83 38.77
NHS Highland 30.08 31.43 30.75
NHS Lanarkshire 36.66 39.42 40.38
NHS Lothian 30.28 31.43 30.28
NHS Orkney 26.65 29.11 27.42
NHS Shetland 30.55 34.25 32.87
NHS Tayside 37.20 38.78 39.05
NHS Western Isles 38.80 40.36 40.20
Scotland 33.78 35.66 36.06
Table 21: Proportion of pMDIs versus all inhalers (dry powder and soft mist inhalers) (Chart 15)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 61.9% 64.3% 64.6%
NHS Borders 67.3% 69.6% 69.5%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 72.7% 74.3% 74.4%
NHS Fife 64.7% 66.8% 67.0%
NHS Forth Valley 63.4% 66.7% 66.6%
NHS Grampian 68.8% 71.3% 72.3%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 67.3% 68.9% 68.8%
NHS Highland 61.5% 62.6% 61.6%
NHS Lanarkshire 62.4% 65.6% 67.4%
NHS Lothian 69.9% 71.4% 70.9%
NHS Orkney 70.0% 73.7% 68.0%
NHS Shetland 73.5% 75.7% 73.7%
NHS Tayside 73.8% 74.6% 74.4%
NHS Western Isles 68.8% 70.1% 71.7%
Scotland 66.6% 68.7% 68.9%
Table 22: Salbutamol DPI as a proportion of all salbutamol (items) (Chart 16)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 12.8% 12.3% 12.5%
NHS Borders 5.8% 5.7% 7.0%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 6.9% 6.6% 6.5%
NHS Fife 11.6% 10.9% 11.1%
NHS Forth Valley 15.2% 14.0% 15.1%
NHS Grampian 2.9% 2.8% 2.6%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 7.5% 7.9% 9.2%
NHS Highland 3.2% 4.3% 6.4%
NHS Lanarkshire 7.0% 6.6% 6.5%
NHS Lothian 5.1% 5.1% 6.5%
NHS Orkney 1.9% 2.2% 4.7%
NHS Shetland 2.2% 2.3% 3.3%
NHS Tayside 2.9% 2.7% 2.9%
NHS Western Isles 2.9% 3.0% 4.1%
Scotland 7.2% 7.1% 7.8%
Table 23: People prescribed both pMDI and DPI in consecutive quarters as a proportion of all people prescribed a DPI (Chart 17)
NHS Board January to June 2021 January to June 2022 January to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 28.8% 28.3% 27.5%
NHS Borders 32.7% 31.8% 29.0%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 34.9% 34.8% 31.8%
NHS Fife 26.4% 27.0% 25.9%
NHS Forth Valley 25.1% 25.7% 23.8%
NHS Grampian 32.2% 32.5% 31.8%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 37.2% 35.3% 33.4%
NHS Highland 32.7% 31.5% 28.4%
NHS Lanarkshire 37.0% 36.7% 36.4%
NHS Lothian 31.8% 31.4% 28.8%
NHS Orkney 30.2% 30.8% 23.1%
NHS Shetland 34.0% 32.9% 28.6%
NHS Tayside 37.4% 35.8% 35.7%
NHS Western Isles 33.3% 35.3% 30.9%
Scotland 33.3% 32.7% 31.1%
Table 24: People prescribed inhalers as separate devices as a proportion of people prescribed any inhaler for which a combination inhaler may be appropriate (Chart 18)
NHS Board April to June 2021 April to June 2022 April to June 2023
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 16.0% 14.2% 12.1%
NHS Borders 15.1% 12.5% 10.8%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 17.3% 14.8% 12.5%
NHS Fife 10.7% 9.6% 8.5%
NHS Forth Valley 12.4% 8.9% 7.8%
NHS Grampian 9.6% 8.2% 6.6%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 15.7% 14.2% 12.3%
NHS Highland 11.9% 9.8% 8.4%
NHS Lanarkshire 15.0% 12.7% 10.5%
NHS Lothian 11.2% 10.0% 8.9%
NHS Orkney 14.1% 11.8% 9.8%
NHS Shetland 10.0% 8.5% 6.8%
NHS Tayside 10.5% 10.3% 10.1%
NHS Western Isles 15.9% 13.0% 9.2%
Scotland 13.3% 11.6% 10.0%

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