Asked by: Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were given an opiate-based treatment (a) within a hospital, (b) on prescription and (c) otherwise in the last 12 months.
Answered by George Freeman
Information on the number of people given a particular medicine or type of medicine is not available.
Information on the number of packs of opiate-based medicines dispensed by National Health Service hospital pharmacies in England for 2013-14 is shown in table 1.
Table 1: Number of packs dispensed in hospital pharmacies
Chemical Name | Number of packs dispensed in hospital pharmacies (secondary care) (000s) |
Buprenorphine | 98.2 |
Buprenorphine/Naloxone | 0.9 |
Codeine | 1,856.5 |
Dextromethorphan | 0.7 |
Diamorphine | 210.4 |
Dihydrocodeine | 335.2 |
Fentanyl | 590.7 |
Hydromorphone | 2.1 |
Meptazinol | 6.3 |
Methadone | 77.8 |
Morphine | 1,492.5 |
Oxycodone | 333.2 |
Oxycodone/Naloxone | 3.4 |
Pethidine | 46.9 |
Pholcodine | 3.0 |
Tapentadol | 4.7 |
Tramadol | 954.4 |
Other1 | 0.1 |
1 Includes Opium, Pentazocine
Source: Hospital Pharmacy Audit Index (HPAI) provided by IMS Health
Information on the number of opiate-based medicines items dispensed on prescription in the community in England in 2013-14 for treatments under the following British National Formulary (BNF) chapters is shown in table 2.
Table 2: Prescription items dispensed in the community
BNF chapter | Chemical Name | Prescription items dispensed in the community (primary care) (000s) |
3.9.1 | Pholcodine | 300.1 |
Codeine Phosphate | 194.5 | |
Other2 | 0.5 | |
4.7.2 | Tramadol Hydrochloride | 8,002.4 |
Codeine Phosphate | 3,934.8 | |
Morphine Sulfate | 3,734.0 | |
Dihydrocodeine Tartrate | 1,877.6 | |
Buprenorphine | 1,679.5 | |
Oxycodone Hydrochloride | 1,197.2 | |
Fentanyl | 1,177.2 | |
Diamorphine Hydrochloride (Systemic) | 120.8 | |
Oxycodone Hydrochloride/ Naloxone Hydrochloride | 76.8 | |
Methadone Hydrochloride | 70.9 | |
Meptazinol Hydrochloride | 67.7 | |
Tapentadol Hydrochloride | 48.1 | |
Pethidine Hydrochloride | 38.3 | |
Dipipanone Hydrochloride | 15.3 | |
Hydromorphone Hydrochloride | 10.1 | |
Other3 | 6.9 | |
4.10.3 | Methadone Hydrochloride | 2,544.6 |
Buprenorphine Hydrochloride | 873.4 | |
Buprenorph Hydrochloride/ Naloxone Hydrochloride | 142.7 |
2 Includes Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide, Methadone Hydrochloride, Diamorphine Hydrochloride
3 Includes Pentazocine Hydrochloride, Morphine Tartrate and Cyclizine Tartrate, Dextromoramide Tartrate, Papaveretum, Morphine Hydrochloride, Pentazocine Lactate, Oxycodone, Powdered Opium
Source: Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre
Information on opiate-based medicines not provided through the NHS e.g. those bought over the counter or provided by private hospitals, is not collected.
Asked by: Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the ability of people to access Sativex in the NHS.
Answered by George Freeman
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published an updated clinical guideline on the management of multiple sclerosis in primary and secondary care in October 2014, in which Sativex (nabiximols) is not recommended for treating spasticity.
National Health Service commissioners must consider requests to fund Sativex in line with the NHS Constitution.
Asked by: Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people died from the effects of (a) tobacco, (b) alcohol and (c) cannabis in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.