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Prescription Drugs

Answer

The NHSBSA holds patient identifiable information for the number of items dispensed and claimed for reimbursement. The following table shows the total number of prescription items for clonazepam and other benzodiazepines, z-drugs, antidepressants, opioids, pregabalin, and gabapentin drug groups, as well as the percentage and number of unique identified patients for those drug groups for 2024/25:

Drug Group	Total number of prescription items	Total number of unique identified patients	Percentage of items where the patient has been identified
Clonazepam	1,073,708	84,379	98.19%
Other benzodiazepines	6,560,170	1,122,860	97.01%
Clonazepam and other benzodiazepines	7,633,878	1,193,477	97.17%
Z-drugs	4,888,101	721,641	98.20%
Antidepressants	92,642,110	8,888,229	99.25
Opioids	39,015,440	5,559,691	98.99
Pregabalin	9,607,609	851,696	99.44**
Gabapentin	7,413,842	783,591	99.44**

Notes:

1. for the clonazepam and other benzodiazepines drug groups, the figures represent patients who have received any combination of clonazepam and/or other benzodiazepines, as no patient is counted twice within this row, even where multiple medications have been received; and
2. for the pregabalin, and gabapentin drug groups, please note these figures refer to the combined category of gabapentinoids.

Patient count totals included in the table should not be aggregated.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

101755

Session

2024-26

Subjects

Benzodiazepines Opioids Antidepressants Gabapentin Pregabalin

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk