South London spending less on prescriptions than rest on the country, stats show
By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter
Four South London NHS boards have been revealed as spending the least amount on prescriptions for patients in the entire country.
The board found to be spending the least claimed factors such as individuals turning to private healthcare and the capital’s younger population had affected prescription spending.
The data, provided by NHSDiscoutOffers, compared NHS data on prescription costs with the population of each integrated care board (ICB). Figures were obtained during the 2022/23 financial year.
The South East London ICB came bottom of the list, spending £216.4 million in total for 24.4m items across a population of just over 2m. This equated to £106 being spent by the ICB on prescriptions per person.
North Central London was placed second on the list with a £107 cost per person, and South West London came in third with £108. The North East London board followed, spending £113 on prescriptions per patient.
Figures for London boards were found to be significantly lower than the national average, with £164.6 being spent for prescriptions per person in England as a whole. The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough board was found to spend the most money on prescriptions, at an average spend of £332 per person.
An NHS South East London ICB spokesman said: “The data therefore is complex and requires detailed interpretation. Expenditure on medicines is influenced by a number of factors, which can be simplified into three groups: the volume of products provided, the price of those products and the combination of products used.”
They claimed that the factors affecting medicine expenditure can vary by area depending on how medication is deployed, patient need and the organisation of services. They said unique traits of London’s population, such as individuals turning to private healthcare subsidised by their workplace and the relatively low numbers of older people, had affected the prescribing spend.
Regarding the South East London ICB specifically, the spokesperson said 85 per cent of prescription items over the 2022/23 financial year were generic drugs, which they claimed were cheaper than identical brand-name products.
The spokesman said: “South East London has further developed measures to influence prescriber behaviour in favour of cost-effective and clinical-effective products.
“Early prevention to achieve maximum clinical outcomes while reducing pill burden to patients. We also have initiatives in place to reduce the overuse of medicines and overprescribing.”
Pictured top: The South East London Integrated Care Board HQ in Tooley Street, Southwark (Picture: Google Street View)