§ Dr. Millerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total number of prescriptions issued by general practitioners in each year from 1949 to 1970.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellInformation for the years 1949 to 1961 is contained in the Annual Reports of the Department of Health for Scotland and for the years 1962 to 1969 in the Reports of the Scottish Home and Health Department on Health and Welfare Services in Scotland. 28.9 million prescriptions were dispensed under the National Health Service in 1970.
§ Dr. Millerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the proportion of the total cost of the National Health Service attributed to the drug bill in the general practitioner sector in each year from 1949 to 1970; and what was the total cost of the drug bill in each of these years.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellThe information is as follows:
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Year ending Cost of Pharmaceutical Services* Cost of pharmaceutical services as percentage of net cost of N.H.S. (1) (2) (3) £ million Per cent. 31st March— 1949† … 1.5 5.3 1950 … 3.8 7.8 1951 … 4.1 8.1 1952 … 5.5 10.5 1953 … 5.3 9.3 1954 … 5.0 8.9 1955 … 5.2 8.8 1956 … 5.2 8.2 1957 … 5.7 8.3 1958 … 6.3 8.7 1959 … 6.9 8.8 1960 … 7.5 9.0 1961 … 8.0 8.6 1962 … 7.6 7.9 1963 … 8.0 7.8 1964 … 8.7 7.8 1965 … 9.6 8.1 1966 … 14.4 10.7 1967 … 15.8 10.6 1968 … 17.5 10.6 1969 … 17.5 9.8 1970 … 18.3 9.4 * Cost of drugs and appliances and pharmacists' and dispensing doctors' remuneration, less charges paid by patients. †9 months only.
§ Dr. Millerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the proportion of the drug bill attributed to prescriptions for proprietary medicines and to prescriptions for non-proprietary medicines in the general practitioner sector of the National Health Service in each of the years from 1949 to 1970.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellFull details are not available, but estimates based on a 1 per cent, sample of prescriptions dispensed by retail chemists are set out below for each year from 1962. Estimates are not available for earlier years. The balance of the cost is attributable to dressings and appliances.
Nonproprietaries Per cent. Proprietaries Per cent. 1962 … … 7.5 87.2 1963 … … 7.1 87.5 1964 … … 68 88.7 1965 … … 6.3 87.5 1966 … … 6.5 89 .5 1967 … … 6.6 87.5 1968 … … 6.3 88.5 1969 … … 6.0 90.2 1970 … … Not yet available