Databank. Prescription statistics

Databank

Prescription statistics

The national statistics of NHS prescriptions in 1999 were recently published. Of the prescriptions dispensed by pharmacists, 85 per cent were free to patients. The net ingredient cost of all prescriptions dispensed was £5,291 million, an increase of 9.8 per cent in real terms on 1998. A total of 530 million prescriptions were dispensed, an increase of 3.2 per cent on 1998 and the average net ingredient cost per prescription was £9.99. There were on average 10.6 prescriptions per head of population compared with 10.4 in 1998.