Prescription Drugs
(asked on 14th December 2017) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients have been prescribed (a) benzodiazepines and (b) z-drugs for four months or longer in each of the last five years.
NHS Business Services Authority only holds data relating to drugs prescribed in England and dispensed within a community setting. There is no data collected by NHS Business Services Authority relating to the dosage or the time period for which drugs cover.
However, the England national figure for the prescribing of benzodiazepines and z-drugs in each of the last five years is shown in the table below:
Period | Total items benzodiazepines | Total items z-Drugs |
November 2012 - March 2013 | 4,477,133 | 2,602,712 |
April 2013 – March 2014 | 10,673,395 | 6,385,725 |
April 2014 – March 2015 | 10,392,248 | 6,440,846 |
April 2015 – March 2016 | 10,111,692 | 6,396,935 |
April 2016 – March 2017 | 9,959,643 | 6,333,126 |
April 2017 - October 2017 | 5,650,026 | 3,560,121 |
Source: ePACT.net
NHS Business Services Authority has captured patient level prescription information from April 2015 onwards; provided in the table below are the number of unique patients who have been prescribed benzodiazepines and z-drugs for the last full two years for which data is available.
Period | Drug Group | Number of unique identifiable patients |
October 2015 – September 2016 | Benzodiazepine | 1,636,809 |
October 2016 – September 2017 | Benzodiazepine | 1,619,237 |
October 2015 – September 2016 | Z-Drug | 1,050,369 |
October 2016 – September 2017 | Z-Drug | 1,019,626 |
Source: ePACT2