The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7386 p123
4 February 2006

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Prescriptions rise by 4.5 per cent in England and Wales

Community pharmacies in England and Wales dispensed almost 675 million prescriptions in 2004–05 — a 4.5 per cent increase on the previous year, according to Government statistics released this week (PDF 910K).

The statistics record the continuing rise of multiple pharmacy companies, with over half (54.1 per cent) of the 10,447 pharmacy contracts held with English primary care trusts or Welsh local health boards on 31 March 2005 now being held by multiples with at least five pharmacies. The equivalent figure a year earlier was 53 per cent of 10,462 pharmacies. The average number of prescriptions dispensed per pharmacy last year was 5,384 per month. The lowest monthly average — 1,722 — was for Westminster PCT in London.

The bulletin records wide variations in the population per pharmacy, with Uttlesford PCT in Essex having only 96 pharmacies per million resident population, while Westminster PCT in London has 455. The average across England and Wales is 198 pharmacies per million people.