Take 2.6 million per day: The scale and cost of England's pill-popping

Take 2.6 million per day The scale and cost of England’s pill-popping In 2011, England’s pharmacies dispensed over 961 million items', the equivalent of 1,828 items every minute. In total the Department The top five most commonly of Health spent £8.81 billion footing the dispensed items3. bill’; that’s £213.77 per adult. Simvastatin (aka Simvador/Zocor) Statin used for treating high cholesterol 3.9 MILLION TABLETS & 9 LITRES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £61.2 million Aspirin Anti-platelet drug / analgesic used for pain relief and to lower risk of heart attack and stroke 3 MILLION TABLETS/SACHETS/SUPPOSITORIES, 3 MILLILITRES & 16 GRAMMES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £29.3 million Levothyroxine Sodium (aka Eltroxin/Evotrox) Used to treat hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) 2.8 MILLION TABLETS & 21.8 LITRES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £52.9 million Omeprazole (aka Losec/Mepradec/Mezzopram/Zanprol) Used to treat peptic ulcers 2.3 MILLION TABLETS & 12 LITRES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £65.8 million Ramipril Used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart failure 2.2 MILLION TABLETS & 2.6 LITRES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £38.8 million PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR SIDE EFFECTS * * * ** * Additional notes 1 A prescription item refers to a single item prescribed by a doctor (or dentist/nurse/et al.) on a prescription form. If a prescription form includes three medicines it is counted as three prescription items. Sources Prescription volumes and costs: “Prescription Cost Analysis 2011", NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre, Prescribing and Primary Care 2 Costs quoted are Net Ingredient Costs. These refer to the cost of the drug before discounts and does not include any dispensing costs or fees. It does not include any adjustment for income obtained where Population (used to calculate cost per adult): a prescription charge is paid at the time the prescription is dispensed or where the patient has purchased a pre-payment certificate. 3 The top five are in descending order of the highest number of items Somalia, Ethiopia & Zimbabwe debt value: 2009 dispensed. The top five alone make up 15% of all items dispensed, and account for 3% of the total expenditure. Drug descriptions: British National Formulary "England Mid-2010 Population Estimates" Office for National Statistics World Bank external debt stock totals taken from “Africa Development Indicators" dataset ! HEALTH WARNING ! Last year, the NHS spent more on pharmaceutical items in England than the total combined debt of Somalia, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe NHS © The Data Curator, 2012 Take 2.6 million per day The scale and cost of England’s pill-popping In 2011, England’s pharmacies dispensed over 961 million items', the equivalent of 1,828 items every minute. In total the Department The top five most commonly of Health spent £8.81 billion footing the dispensed items3. bill’; that’s £213.77 per adult. Simvastatin (aka Simvador/Zocor) Statin used for treating high cholesterol 3.9 MILLION TABLETS & 9 LITRES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £61.2 million Aspirin Anti-platelet drug / analgesic used for pain relief and to lower risk of heart attack and stroke 3 MILLION TABLETS/SACHETS/SUPPOSITORIES, 3 MILLILITRES & 16 GRAMMES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £29.3 million Levothyroxine Sodium (aka Eltroxin/Evotrox) Used to treat hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) 2.8 MILLION TABLETS & 21.8 LITRES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £52.9 million Omeprazole (aka Losec/Mepradec/Mezzopram/Zanprol) Used to treat peptic ulcers 2.3 MILLION TABLETS & 12 LITRES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £65.8 million Ramipril Used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart failure 2.2 MILLION TABLETS & 2.6 LITRES TO BE TAKEN DAILY Total annual cost: £38.8 million PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR SIDE EFFECTS * * * ** * Additional notes 1 A prescription item refers to a single item prescribed by a doctor (or dentist/nurse/et al.) on a prescription form. If a prescription form includes three medicines it is counted as three prescription items. Sources Prescription volumes and costs: “Prescription Cost Analysis 2011", NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre, Prescribing and Primary Care 2 Costs quoted are Net Ingredient Costs. These refer to the cost of the drug before discounts and does not include any dispensing costs or fees. It does not include any adjustment for income obtained where Population (used to calculate cost per adult): a prescription charge is paid at the time the prescription is dispensed or where the patient has purchased a pre-payment certificate. 3 The top five are in descending order of the highest number of items Somalia, Ethiopia & Zimbabwe debt value: 2009 dispensed. The top five alone make up 15% of all items dispensed, and account for 3% of the total expenditure. Drug descriptions: British National Formulary "England Mid-2010 Population Estimates" Office for National Statistics World Bank external debt stock totals taken from “Africa Development Indicators" dataset ! HEALTH WARNING ! Last year, the NHS spent more on pharmaceutical items in England than the total combined debt of Somalia, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe NHS © The Data Curator, 2012