HC Deb 07 November 1989 vol 159 c571W
74. Mr. Andrew McKay

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many National Health Service prescriptions are being dispensed per year; and what was the figure for 1979.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

The number of prescriptions dispensed in England during 1988, the latest year for which information is available, was 371 million. In 1979, 321 million prescriptions were dispensed.