AQW 14079/17-22 Mr Christopher Stalford Democratic Unionist Party South Belfast
Tabled Date: 04/02/2021 Answered On Date: 11/02/2021 Priority Written: No
Question: To ask the Minister of Health to detail the number of prescriptions issued for anti-depressants in each each month of (i) 2018; (ii) 2019; (iii) 2020; and (iv) 2021 to date.
Answer:
The number of prescriptions issued is not known, but the number of antidepressant prescription items dispensed in each month of 2018, 2019 and in January to September 2020 are shown in the table overleaf. Information relating to October to December 2020 will be available from 25 February 2021, following publication of the Official Statistics release “Family Practitioner Services, General Pharmaceutical Statistics to December 2020”. Information for January to March 2021 will not be available until June 2021. Number of antidepressant prescription items dispensed in each month of 2018, 2019 and in January to September 2020 Month | Number of dispensed prescription items for antidepressant medication1, 2 | | 2018 | 2019 | 20203 | Jan | 277,171 | 296,677 | 302,370 | Feb | 246,400 | 259,552 | 271,447 | Mar | 272,903 | 275,800 | 380,913 | Apr | 256,491 | 279,412 | 342,467 | May | 275,584 | 295,724 | 289,905 | Jun | 266,818 | 267,814 | 295,448 | Jul | 269,022 | 292,875 | 303,627 | Aug | 281,279 | 285,544 | 275,724 | Sep | 256,212 | 277,622 | 304,497 | Oct | 289,170 | 300,228 | - | Nov | 277,508 | 280,397 | - | Dec | 260,922 | 289,706 | - | Total | 3,229,480 | 3,401,351 | 2,766,3983 |
Source: Pharmacy Payment System, Family Practitioner Services, HSC Business Services Organisation. 1 All information is for prescriptions prescribed in Primary care and dispensed by a community pharmacist. Data on secondary care prescribing and private prescriptions are not included. 2 Anti-depressant items are defined as those categorised under British National Formulary (BNF) chapter 4, section 3. 3 Information relating to October to December 2020 will be available from 25 February 2021
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