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