§ Mr. Mike Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the latest figure available to him of the proportion of National Health Service prescriptions written in non-proprietary drug name form, if possible on a comparable basis with the figure in paragraph 7.44 of Cmnd. 7615.
§ Dr. VaughanIn 1978, the latest year for which figures are available, the proportion of NHS prescriptions dispensed in non-proprietary—approved name—form by retail chemists, drug stores and appliance contractors in Great Britain was 14.3 per cent., the corresponding figure for 1977 being 14.4 per cent. If the prescriptions written in non-proprietary drug form but not dispensed in that form—because a proprietary version only is available—were included, the proportion in both years would be 18.7 per cent.