Mental Illness: Prescription Drugs

(asked on 11th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prescriptions have been issued for (1) antidepressants, (2) anxiolytics, (3) sedatives and hypnotics, and (4) antipsychotics, in the last six months; how many prescriptions in each of these categories were new prescriptions; and how these figures compare with the same period last year.


Answered by
Lord Bethell Portrait
Lord Bethell
This question was answered on 22nd June 2020

The information requested is provided in the following tables by the NHS Business Services Authority:

Number of items

Month and Year

Antidepressants

Anxiolytics

Barbiturates and Hypnotics

Antipsychotics

October 2018

6,242,966

559,541

738,497

1,059,542

November 2018

6,105,746

538,508

715,005

1,030,777

December 2018

6,043,242

527,892

704,835

1,022,515

January 2019

6,279,989

547,545

743,385

1,052,933

February 2019

5,680,329

492,331

656,344

955,569

March 2019

6,153,299

527,789

699,736

1,021,958

Number of items

Month and Year

Antidepressants

Anxiolytics

Barbiturates and Hypnotics

Antipsychotics

October 2019

6,574,909

547,721

720,362

1,091,403

November 2019

6,324,255

515,711

683,198

1,045,301

December 2019

6,428,992

525,749

698,338

1,067,155

January 2020

6,701,671

539,735

733,003

1,098,917

February 2020

6,097,134

490,517

653,315

997,909

March 2020

6,828,732

529,601

704,071

1,080,136

The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in England only. The time periods covered are October 2019 – March 2020 inclusive and also October 2018 – March 2019 for comparison. March 2020 is the most recent dataset available.

The term ‘items’ refers to the number of times a product appears on a prescription form, and not the quantity prescribed. Any secondary indications or unlicensed uses of any of these medicines will not be apparent from the data.

The NHS Business Services Authority does not have enough information to determine if a prescription is ‘new’ for a particular patient.

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