Tapas Mukherjee[/caption]Tapas Mukherjee, a respiratory registrar at Glenfield Hospital created the video using help from NHS colleagues in his spare time, after winning an award to develop his idea, from The NHS England Regional Innovation Fund in 2014. The video, which highlights hard hitting facts from the National Review of Asthma Deaths Report, aims to reduce the number of patients who are reliant on their emergency blue inhaler, encouraging them to see a doctor or nurse, and switch over to a regular inhaler instead.

Studies have shown that 80% of patients don’t know how to use an inhaler correctly and that using a blue inhaler more than twice a week is associated with increased chances of death.

Tapas explains further: “It’s amazing how many people, both patients and professionals, don’t know how to use inhalers properly. We hope to change that with this video, and if enough people see the message, we expect it will save someone’s life too.”

Mike Morgan, Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine at Leicester’s Hospitals and National Clinical Director for Respiratory Medicine for the UK added: “Good inhaler technique is fundamental to the effective treatment of asthma. Many asthma related deaths are related to poor understanding of inhaler therapy. Getting this message across to young people in particular is particularly challenging and I welcome this excellent innovative video.”

According to Asthma UK, someone in the UK suffers from a life threatening attack every ten seconds.