Medication prescription and patient numbers (FOI)

​Request

A

Please provide the number of prescriptions issued in 2022 to treat depression, anxiety, and sleep such as hypnotics.

B

Please break the figures down into specific categories such as British National Formulary (BNF) sub paragraph plus code, BNF chemical substance, and total number of prescrition items dispensed.

C

Please provide the total number of patients in Jersey identified as suffering from depression, anxiety or sleep related issues as categorised on a centralised system.

Response

A

165,359.

B

Please see attached table.

Table.pdf

C

Information on diagnoses made by GPs is recorded on a centralised system (EMIS). Whilst the Government of Jersey may be able to interrogate the EMIS system for information, this information is not routinely collated outside of 12 conditions recorded under the Jersey Quality Improvement Framework (JQIF).

The search functionality for EMIS is complex, and as the data is input by numerous different, private practices it is difficult to be confident of data standards, therefore search results can be misleading. That is why, with the exception of the JQIF datasets, the Government does not routinely compile or report on EMIS data.

It should also be noted that the EMIS system is information held by the GPs rather than by the Government. Whilst the Government can review this data it is not held by them for the purposes of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Article applied

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding Information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information, it must inform the applicant accordingly.