Antidepressants: Pescriptions
(asked on 16th January 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost to the NHS of anti-depressants in each of the past ten years; and how many they prescribed in each of those years.
The Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) provides the total number of prescription items of each medicine dispensed in the community in England. The following table shows the total number of items prescribed, based on information within the PCA and using British National Formulary Section 0403 for antidepressant drugs that have been dispensed in England regardless of where prescribed, as well as their net ingredient cost (NIC), for each calendar year from 2014 to 2023, and from January to November 2024:
Calendar year | Total number of items | Total NIC |
2014 | 57,149,109 | £265,008,698.97 |
2015 | 61,021,662 | £284,746,655.27 |
2016 | 64,703,639 | £266,562,024.17 |
2017 | 67,530,457 | £235,076,089.51 |
2018 | 70,873,979 | £202,526,719.66 |
2019 | 74,814,621 | £201,729,659.16 |
2020 | 78,866,866 | £352,682,885.77 |
2021 | 82,620,542 | £288,099,249.84 |
2022 | 85,404,864 | £224,648,497.13 |
2023 | 88,469,803 | £230,013,659.86 |
2024 | 84,251,563 | £207,585,360.44 |
Total | 815,707,105 | £2,758,679,499.78 |
The NHS Business Services Authority does not hold a single cost to the National Health Service. Total NIC is the amount that would be paid using the basic price of the prescribed medicine and the quantity prescribed, before any discounts, dispensing costs, or fees. It also does not include other costs to the NHS, such as those associated with purchasing or storing these medicines. The basic price is given either in the Drug Tariff or is determined from prices published by manufacturers, wholesalers, or suppliers.