Paracetamol
(asked on 12th September 2016) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the total cost to the NHS was of paracetamol prescribed by GPs in each of the last five years.
The cost of paracetamol prescription items dispensed in primary care is provided in the following table. This includes prescriptions written by general practitioners (GPs), nurses, pharmacists. Separate figures are provided for the cost of primary care dispensed prescriptions that were written by GPs and GP locums.
Net ingredient cost (NIC) for paracetamol prescribed in primary care, in England, and dispensed in the United Kingdom, as defined by British National Formulary section 4.7.1 Non-opioid analgesics and compound analgesic preparations 1 | ||
Year | NIC (£) | |
| Total primary care 2 | GPs and GP locums only |
2015/16 | 84,693,667 | 83,205,986 |
2014/15 | 86,703,829 | 85,481,148 |
2013/14 | 82,949,620 | 81,968,381 |
2012/13 | 73,607,735 | 72,788,032 |
Source: The Prescribing Analysis and CosT tool (ePACT) system provided by the NHS Business Services Authority.
Notes:
1 The data available is a rolling 60 month dataset. Therefore, information is available for only the last four complete financial years 2012/13 to 2015/16.
2 Excluding prescriptions written in hospitals/clinics that are dispensed in the community, prescriptions dispensed in hospitals, dental prescribing and private prescriptions.