§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines he has given to the NHS as to the relevance of a patient's age to the quality of treatment provided by the NHS. [135013]
Top 10 preparations in terms of prescription items dispensed in the community in 1999—England Prescription Net ingredient Drug name Items (Thousand) Cost (£000) Cost per item (£) Aspirin Disper_Tab 75mg 10,848.3 3,640.4 0.34 Salbutamol_Inha 100mcg (200D) 8,527.9 25,334.9 2.97 Co-Proxamol_Tab 32.5mg/325mg 8,486.7 13,517.6 1.59 Bendrofluazide_Tab 2.5mg 7,158.8 9,008.2 1.26 Amoxycillin_Cap 250mg 6,181.7 9,906.6 1.60 Paracet_Tab 500mg 5,958.9 3,581.4 0.60 Frusemide_Tab 40mg 5,706.3 16,452.5 2.88 Atenolol_Tab 50mg 5,110.4 11,574.4 2.26 Lactulose_Soln 3.-1g-3.7g/5ml 4,260.8 11,607.0 2.72 Losec_Cap E/C 20mg 3,903.2 156,654.3 40.13 Total 66,143.0 261,277.3 3.95 Notes:
1. The prescription information is from the Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system and is based on a full analysis of all prescriptions dispensed in the community, ie by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered in England. Also included are prescriptions written in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man but dispensed in England. The data do not cover drugs dispensed in hospital or private prescriptions.
2. The net ingredient cost (NIC) is the basic cost of a drug. This cost does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees or prescription charges income.
3. Most of these items were prescribed by general practitioners; the main exception being Amoxycillin which dentists prescribed almost 1 million items