NHS reports increase in medicines prescriptions in England

NHS Digital has revealed that the number of medicines prescribed in England last year rose by 0.15 percent.

According to new data, 1.11 billion prescription items were dispensed during 2017 – 1.7 million up from the amount recorded a year earlier.

However, the net ingredient cost actually went down during this period, falling by GBP 37.6 million to GBP 9.17 billion, although this does not take into account related expenses, such as the income from prescription charges and dispensing costs.

Atorvastatin headed the list of dispensed items in 2017, accounting for more than 37.3 million prescriptions last year.

This was followed by levothyroxine sodium, which was dispensed 31.5 billion times, while acid reductant omeprazole was dispensed 31.1 billion.

Fluticasone propionate was top of the list when medicines were categorised by their net ingredient cost (GBP 271.9 million), ahead of enteral nutrition and pregabalin (GBP 258.2 million and GBP 215.6 million respectively).

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