Prescription costs for England published by the NHS

The annual Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) includes information about the costs and volumes of prescriptions that have been dispensed in England.

NHS Business Services Authority published the official statistics – key findings showed that:

• The cost of prescription items dispensed in the community in England was £9.69 billion, a 0.87% increase of £83.7 million from £9.61 billion in 2020/21.
• The number of prescription items dispensed in the community in England was 1.14 billion, a 2.58% increase of 28.7 million items from 1.11 billion in 2020/21.
• Atorvastatin (a statin medication) was the most dispensed drug in England in 2021/22 with 53.4 million items, while Apixaban (an anticoagulant) was the drug with the highest cost of £401 million.
• FreeStyle Libre 2 Sensor kit (a glucose monitoring system) was the presentation with the largest absolute increase in cost between 2020/21 and 2021/22 of £69.8 million, from £2.84 million to £72.6 million.

Among other analysis the Prescription Cost Analysis includes the top 10 most dispensed drugs in England and comparisons across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This publication is a National Statistic release. National Statistics status means that the Prescription Cost Analysis meets the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality, and public value and complies with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics.

For the full report, click here.