Methadone: Prescriptions

(asked on 15th March 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford on 11 March (HL14049), whether any public body other than NHS Digital holds the necessary prescription level data to provide the annual cost of prescribing methadone in England for each of the last five years; and if not, why not.


This question was answered on 28th March 2019

The full data requested is not collected centrally or by NHS England. The data is partially held by either NHS Digital or the NHS Business Services Authority.

As part of its formal framework agreement with the Department, NHS Digital collects, processes and publishes data from across the health and social care system in England, including data on prescribing and medicines. NHS Digital reports that it does not hold the prescription level data requested but does hold data on the net ingredient cost of Methadone Hydrochloride prescription items written in the United Kingdom and dispensed in the community in England, via an FP10 prescription form. This is provided in the following table. Data is not available broken down into the cost of ordering, storage, transport, security, administration and prescription costs.

Data on local methadone prescribing and supply may be held by individual National Health Service bodies, for example, clinical commissioning groups or NHS trusts.

British National Formulary (BNF) Chemical Name

BNF 3.9.1 Cough Suppressants

BNF 4.7.2 Opioid Analgesic

BNF 4.10.3 Opioid Dependence

Total Net Ingredient Cost

2013

Methadone Hydrochloride

£1,025

£986,129

£20,139,545

£21,126,699

2014

Methadone Hydrochloride

£1,692

£964,223

£18,852,099

£19,818,014

2015

Methadone Hydrochloride

£1,586

£858,415

£18,456,074

£19,316,075

2016

Methadone Hydrochloride

£362

£596,809

£17,054,254

£17,651,425

2017

Methadone Hydrochloride

£590

£517,711

£15,252,240

£15,770,541

Source: Prescription Cost Analysis, NHS Digital

Notes:

  1. Information is provided for the five calendar years from 2013 to 2017, which is the latest data currently available. Information for 2018 is due to be released later in March 2019.
  2. Data is provided for Methadone Hydrochloride, which is listed in the BNF within sub-paragraphs BNF 3.9.1 cough suppressants, BNF 4.7.2 Opioid Analgesic and BNF 4.10.3 Opioid Dependence.
  3. NHS Digital only has information about NHS prescription items dispensed to patients in the community in England using a FP10 prescription form. Accordingly, NHS Digital does not hold data on drugs dispensed in hospitals, on private prescriptions, on prescriptions written but not dispensed and about other supply routes such as directly through a Patient Group Direction.

The NHS Business Services Authority is a special health authority and arm’s length body of the Department and processes 1 billion prescription items for pharmacists who have dispensed prescriptions in England. The NHS Business Services Authority has provided data of remuneration costs from 2014 to 2018, for English pharmacies only, for the dispensing of methadone. This is provided in the following table.

Calendar Year

Remuneration for Methadone (£)

2014

41,556,608.82

2015

41,647,409.24

2016

41,720,280.70

2017

45,319,400.63

2018

45,932,852.74

Source: NHS Business Services Authority Information Services Data Warehouse

Notes:

  1. The data is based on items dispensed in the community in England.

  1. The data is based on dispensed prescription items that were processed by the NHS Business Services Authority, not including items not dispensed, disallowed and returned, also excluding items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser.
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