Ventolin Evohaler (Salbutamol 100 micrograms) Reliever Inhaler – 200 Doses, Replacement for Diagnosed Asthma

If you are having an asthma attack, do not order online — call 999. This is not an emergency service and must never delay urgent treatment. If you have run out and need an inhaler today, come into our Holborn pharmacy during opening hours (Monday to Friday, 9:00am–6:00pm) rather than waiting for a posted order.

Ventolin Evohaler is a prescription-only reliever inhaler (the blue inhaler) containing salbutamol. It quickly opens the airways to relieve wheeze, breathlessness and chest tightness. At Ways Pharmacy it is supplied to adults who have already been diagnosed with asthma (or another condition for which salbutamol has been prescribed before) and need a replacement — for example if their inhaler is lost, empty, damaged or out of date. It is supplied only after a pharmacist has assessed your asthma and confirmed that it is safe and suitable.

How to access this medicine

1. Choose and pay. Add the medicine to your basket and check out.
2. Online health questionnaire and ID check. After payment you complete a short questionnaire and confirm your identity by uploading photo ID or showing it on a video call.
3. Pharmacist speaks with you. A GPhC-registered pharmacist contacts you by phone or video to go through your answers and confirm whether this medicine is suitable. The pharmacist checks your asthma control, how often you use your reliever, whether you have a preventer inhaler and your other medicines.
4. If suitable, supplied the same day. Orders approved by 3pm on a weekday are posted the same day (see our shipping policy), or you can collect from Holborn once approved. If the medicine is not suitable — including when the pharmacist gives advice only — you receive a full refund.

There is no separate consultation fee. If the medicine you chose is not suitable, the pharmacist may suggest another option.

About this medicine

A spacer can make the inhaler easier to use: EasyChamber spacer.

Dosage

• Adults: usually 1 to 2 puffs when needed for wheeze, breathlessness or chest tightness
• Do not use it more often than every 4 hours, and no more than 8 puffs in 24 hours, as routine use
• If you need it more often, it works less well or for a shorter time, get your asthma reviewed — this can be a sign of worsening asthma
• In an asthma attack, call 999 and follow your asthma action plan or the NHS advice on our asthma inhaler page

One inhaler per consultation. Supply is never automatic, and this service is not a substitute for regular asthma care. The pharmacist will confirm the dose and check your inhaler technique.

When you need a GP or asthma nurse review

Salbutamol relieves symptoms but does not treat the inflammation that causes asthma. Most people with asthma should also use a steroid preventer inhaler. Book a review with your GP or asthma nurse if:

• you have used more than 2 reliever inhalers in the last 12 months
• you do not have a preventer inhaler, or are not using it regularly
• you are using your reliever more often than usual, or it is not working as well or for as long
• asthma wakes you at night or limits your daily activities
• you have recently needed steroid tablets, an A&E visit or a hospital stay for asthma

In these situations the pharmacist may still supply one inhaler if it is clinically necessary and safe, but will ask you to arrange a review promptly and will not keep supplying reliever inhalers in its place.

Warnings and who should not take this medicine

• Anyone having an asthma attack or severe breathing difficulty — call 999. Signs include a reliever that is not helping, being too breathless to speak, eat or sleep, very fast breathing, blue or grey lips or fingertips, drowsiness, confusion or collapse
• People who have not been diagnosed with asthma, or who have new or unexplained wheeze or breathlessness — please see your GP or call NHS 111
• Children and young people under 18
• Anyone allergic to salbutamol or any other ingredient

Tell the pharmacist if you have heart disease, an irregular or fast heartbeat, high blood pressure, an overactive thyroid, diabetes or low potassium, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or take beta-blockers (including eye drops), diuretics, steroid tablets, theophylline or digoxin.

Possible side effects

Common side effects include shaking (tremor), headache and a faster heartbeat. Palpitations, muscle cramps and mouth or throat irritation can also occur. These usually pass quickly. If your breathing gets worse straight after using the inhaler, stop using it and get medical help immediately. Get urgent help if you develop swelling of the face, lips or throat.

See our asthma reliever inhaler service for full details, including what to do in an asthma attack.

Regulatory information

• Legal status: Prescription-only medicine (POM), supplied under a Patient Group Direction after pharmacist assessment
• Pharmacy: Ways Pharmacy, 77 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4ET · GPhC-registered premises 9012227
• Patient information leaflet: electronic Medicines Compendium (emc)
• Report suspected side effects through the MHRA Yellow Card Scheme

This page gives factual information about a prescription-only medicine and is not an advertisement to the public. It is supplied only after a pharmacist has assessed that it is suitable for you.