Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of unique patients who have been prescribed drugs categorised under the drug groups (a) benzodiazepines including clonazepam, (b) z-drugs, (c) antidepressants and (d) opioids in the each of the last three years.
The following table shows the number of unique patients that were prescribed for benzodiazepines including clonazepam, z-drugs, antidepressants and opioids on a National Health Service prescription and dispensed in the community in England in each of the last three calendar years. Data up to and including October 2020 is the latest available data.
Drug Grouping | Calendar Year | Total number of unique identified patients | Percentage (%) of items where the patient has been identified |
Benzodiazepines (including clonazepam) | 2018 | 1,559,025 | 95.26 |
2019 | 1,513,747 | 95.77 | |
2020 to October | 1,254,238 | 96.86 | |
Z-drugs | 2018 | 967,510 | 96.93 |
2019 | 925,384 | 97.14 | |
2020 to October | 794,626 | 98.01 | |
Antidepressants | 2018 | 7,513,214 | 97.90 |
2019 | 7,800,136 | 98.12 | |
2020 to October | 7,473,047 | 98.88 | |
Opioid analgesics | 2018 | 3,057,077 | 95.33 |
2019 | 2,998,104 | 96.93 | |
2020 to October | 2,661,874 | 98.30 |
Source:
NHS Business Services Authority Information Services ePACT2 system.