Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance published by NHS England, Items which should not routinely be prescribed in primary care: Guidance for CCGs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of patients that have been refused prescriptions for over-the-counter medicines by their GP since the publication of that guidance.

The Department has made no assessment of the number of patients refused prescriptions for over the counter medicines.