1993 English Prescription Data; Changes To UK DoH

The number of prescription items dispensed in England in 1993 was 445 million, up 4.8% on 1992, according to figures published recently by the UK Department of health.

Four out of five prescription items dispensed were free to the patient, and the basic cost of prescription items dispensed rose 10.5% to L3.159 billion ($4.851 billion). On average, 9.2 items were dispensed per head, up 8.8% over 1992.

Almost half of all prescriptions were written generically. The DoH notes that the total cost of cardiovascular drugs was more than for any other group of drugs, while the number of prescription items dispensed for central nervous system drugs was higher than for any other group, and drugs for malignant disease and immunosuppression showed the highest cost per prescription item.