Health trusts spending £440m a year on Lemsips and Anadin

THE National Health Service spends more than £440m a year on painkillers – including thousands on prescribing common over-the-counter remedies like Anadin and Lemsip, new research has revealed.

Statistics for England showed health trusts spend an average of £8.80 per head on painkillers and flu medicines, with the bill highest in the North.

According to research from data analysis firm SSentif, the highest cost per head was £15.39 in Middlesbrough, with Hartlepool, Rochdale and Blackpool also in the top five. Painkiller prescription in those primary care trusts (PCTs) averaged £2.3m each.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

These figures were more than double the prescription costs in London boroughs, despite the northern areas having lower populations. The lowest spend per head was £3.26 in Richmond and Twickenham, closely followed by Camden and Westminster.

In the Yorkshire region, Barnsley showed the highest figure at £13.85 per head of population, more than £5 over the national average.

North East Lincolnshire was the only PCT in the region under the national average, at £8.08.

The analysis also showed that PCTs are spending thousands on prescribing brands like Lemsip, Beechams, Anadin and Panadol.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Between January and June, PCTs spent £59,000 on prescribing over-the-counter painkillers and just over £3,000 on cold and flu remedies.

The study also found a link between painkiller prescriptions and deprivation in the North, but not in the South.

The biggest spender, Middlesbrough, was found to have a high deprivation percentage of 38 per cent.

But despite London having three of the most deprived areas in the country – Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham – the average spend per head was less than £5.50.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A strong correlation between age and the number of prescriptions was found, particularly in the South.

But this didn’t hold true in the North – the PCT with the highest percentage of over-65s in the region, East Riding, had a per head spend average of £10.68.

Doncaster recorded the second highest deprivation rating in the Yorkshire region and, at £13.12, the second highest painkiller spend.

However in Hull, which has Yorkshire’s highest deprivation score, the spend per head was just £11.77, below North Lincolnshire and Wakefield.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Calderdale, Leeds, Kirklees and North Yorkshire and York were all under the £10 mark.

Judy Aldred, managing director of SSentif, said: “£442m is a huge amount and the data shows spend on analgesics has increased steadily year-on-year, with figures from 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 showing spends of £384m and £410m respectively.

“At the moment, the responsibility for the prescribing budget lies with primary care trusts but this is about to change.

“PCTs are phasing out and GPs are being given greater responsibility, including the management of their own prescribing budgets.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Although the figures involved are comparatively low, it was concerning to see products such as Lemsip and even Alka-Seltzer XS offered on prescription.

“When GPs begin shouldering the responsibility for prescribing costs it will be interesting to see if this continues.”

Under reforms announced by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley last year, PCTs will be abolished by 2013 and control of hospital care and budgets handed over to consortia of GPs.

The UK’s 151 PCTs are currently responsible for 80 per cent of the NHS budget.