Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the annual cost to the public purse is of NHS repeat prescriptions.

Information is not held in the format requested. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) holds information on the net ingredient cost (NIC) for both repeat dispensing, where a patient is able to obtain repeat supplies of National Health Service prescriptions without the need for their general practitioner (GP) to issue a prescription each time a supply is required, and repeat prescribing, where the patient still needs to obtain an NHS prescription from their GP each time they require their prescribed medication or appliances. The NIC is the basic reimbursement cost of a medicine. It does not consider discounts, amount for containers or other added reimbursement expenses so the final amount the NHS pays will be different.

The following table shows the total number of items and NIC for both repeat dispensing and repeat prescribing for prescriptions that have been dispensed in the community in England for financial year 2022/23:

Source: NHSBSA

As identified in Good for you, good for us, good for everybody: a plan to reduce overprescribing to make patient care better and safer, support the NHS, and reduce carbon emissions in 2021, addressing overprescribing is a key area of opportunity for delivering greater value for money in medicines in the NHS, and it forms part of NHS England’s ongoing Medicines Value programme priorities.

Notes:

1. Data on repeat prescribing is only available for prescriptions transmitted via the Electronic Prescription Service and requires the prescriber to select the correct treatment code indicating it is repeat prescribing. The data provided by NHSBSA is based on NHS repeat prescriptions that have been dispensed in the community in England.
2. The figures for repeat dispensing cover paper prescriptions and electronic prescribing (EPS) messages.
3. Net Ingredient cost is the basic price of a medicine as stated in Part II Clause 8 of the Drug Tariff but please note that where a price concession for items listed in Part VIII of the Drug Tariff has been agreed between the Department of Health and Social Care and Community Pharmacy England the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price.
4. If a prescription was issued, but not presented for dispensing or was not submitted to NHSBSA by the dispenser, then it is not included in the figures provided. Prescription items ‘not dispensed,’ ‘disallowed’ and ‘items referred back to the contractor for further clarification’ are also excluded from the figures.