Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commission an investigation on recent trends in the number of prescriptions being split between more than one paper prescription; and what assessment he has made of the effect on the NHS drugs budget of such practices.

The Prescription Cost Analysis data, which is published by the NHS Business Services Authority, shows that overall the number of prescription items in primary care has been fairly stable over the last few years giving no indication that prescription items, which could be issued for a longer time period, are being split between multiple prescriptions. There could be valid reasons for prescribing a shorter period of treatment, for example when the medicine is first initiated. The cost of prescribed drugs is met by the prescriber’s clinical commissioning group (CCG). Prescribing the same quantity of a medicine over time for people with a long-term condition, even if prescription duration varies, has largely a neutral effect on National Health Service drug budgets held by CCGs.