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Prescriptions dispensed in the community: Statistics for 1993 to 2003, England

  • Last modified date:
    9 February 2007

This bulletin presents a summary of prescriptions dispensed in the community. The statistics cover all prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists, appliance contractors and dispensing doctors, as well as prescriptions for items personally administered. The bulletin highlights recent changes and the main trends between 1993 and 2003.

Findings:

In 2003

  • The net ingredient cost of all prescriptions dispensed was £ 7,510 million, an increase of 9.7 per cent or 6.4 per cent in real terms on 2002
  • 650 million prescription items were dispensed, an increase of 5.3 per cent on 2002
  • The average net ingredient cost per prescription item was £11.56; an increase of 4.2 per cent or 1.1 per cent in real terms on 2002
  • There were on average 13.1 prescription items per head of population compared to 12.4 in 2002
  • 86.2 per cent of all prescription items dispensed were free to patients
  • 77.8 per cent of all prescription items were written generically.

For further details about the statistics in this bulletin contact:

Candida Ballantyne
Statistics Division (SD1E)
Room 479D
Department of Health
Skipton House
80 London Road
London SE1 6LH Telephone 020 7972 5515

Prescription Cost Analysis

A book listing individual preparations alphabetically within theraputic class, is published annually and provides details of the number of items, net ingredient cost and quantity of individual preparations dispensed in the community in England. This publication is titled "Prescription Cost Analysis: England" and is available for the years 1998 to 2003. It can be purchased from Prolog by sending a cheque made payable to the Department of Health to the address given in the 'Ordering publications' link above for £12, or it is avaliable free on the internet from the link below:

Press enquiries should be made to:

Media Division
Department of Health
Richmond House
79 Whitehall
SW1A 2NS

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