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Welsh Government
Data Provider: Welsh Government National Statistics Mean and median cost per prescription item

Net ingredient cost, number of items prescribed, mean and median cost per item.

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Click here to sortNet ingredient cost (NIC)Net ingredient costs for all years are not adjusted for inflation. Standard adjustments for inflation are not considered appropriate as drug prices are subject to controls under the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme and to other central controls.Click here to sortNumber of items prescribedClick here to sortMean cost per item (£)The mean net ingredient cost is calculated by taking the total net ingredient cost for all prescription items and dividing by the total number of items prescribed during the whole financial year.Click here to sortMedian cost per item (£)The median net ingredient cost is calculated by taking the middle amount when all costs per item are ranked in order from cheapest to most expensive; half of all costs are less than or equal to this amount, and the other half are more than or equal to this amount. This calculation is done on items dispensed in March of each year only, for practical calculation purposes given the large number of items dispensed in a year.
2013-14569,436,486.4476,270,7197.471.96
2014-15581,415,260.5378,512,7267.412.10
2015-16593,462,507.6879,169,7027.501.85
2016-17576,674,427.8980,028,0577.211.71
2017-18578,427,483.2779,903,7307.241.56
2018-19563,162,205.2480,145,9537.031.60
2019-20593,987,018.2582,100,0447.232.09
2020-21624,726,215.8381,097,9397.702.30
2021-22626,690,646.8582,837,4597.571.64
2022-23672,993,239.4084,165,1298.002.17
2023-24704,215,447.6584,597,4918.321.88

Metadata

Title

Mean and median prescription costs

Next update

19 September 2024

Publishing organisation

Welsh Government

Source 1

Prescribing Services, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership

Contact email

stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Designation

National Statistics

Geographical coverage

Wales

Languages covered

English and Welsh

Data licensing

You may use and re-use this data free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government License - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence

General description

This table provides data on the median and mean cost per item prescribed by GPs in Wales and dispensed, 2013-14 onwards. The mean net ingredient cost is calculated by taking the total net ingredient cost for all prescription items and dividing by the total number of items prescribed during the whole financial year. The median net ingredient cost is calculated by taking the middle amount when all costs per item are ranked in order from cheapest to most expensive; half of all costs are less than or equal to this amount, and the other half are more than or equal to this amount. This calculation is done on items dispensed in March of each year only, for practical calculation purposes given the large number of items dispensed in a year.

Statistical quality

See associated Statistical Release for detailed notes, background and definitions.

Keywords

Prescriptions, prescribing