§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health on average how many items of prescription are dispensed each day(a) to patients exempt from charge and (b) to patients paying for prescription.
§ Dr. MawhinneyIn 1991, the latest year for which information is available, an average of 1.01 million prescribed items were dispensed each day by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, of which about 812,000 went to patients exempt from charge or entitled to charge remission and some 199,000 went to patients who paid charges or held prescription prepayment certificates.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions for moisturising creams were dispensed in 1991–92.
§ Dr. MawhinneyMoisturising creams as such are not a recognised therapeutic category. The number of prescriptions for emollients dispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors in England in 1991 was 2.2 million.
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§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what studies her Department has made of the evolution of prescribing patterns in each of the 10 categories of medicines to which she proposes to extend the selected list system.
§ Dr. MawhinneyNone. It will be for the Advisory Committee on National Health Service Drugs to decide what data it needs to enable it to complete its review.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received from pharmaceutical companies about the implications for employment of the proposed extension of the selected list for medicines.
§ Dr. MawhinneyWe have received a number of representations from pharmaceutical companies. In response, we have pointed out that the changes we are introducing mirror measures being taken throughout Europe to limit the growth of drugs bills. Investment and employment in the United Kingdom pharmaceutical industry depend on a number of factors in both the United Kingdom and other key pharmaceutical markets.
§ Sir Keith SpeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what level of prescribing must be reached before a generic drug is included within part 8 of the drug tariff.
§ Dr. MawhinneyEntry to the drug tariff is triggered automatically when 100,000 prescriptions are written generically per year.
§ Sir Keith SpeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her estimate of the number of prescription items to be written under the national health service in the 1993–94 financial year.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThis information is not available in the form requested, but it is estimated that some 448 million prescribed items will be dispensed by community pharmacists, appliance contractors and dispensing doctors in 1993–94.