Prescriptions issued for antidepressants (FOI)

Request

A

Can I have a breakdown by age (from children to senior citizens) of how many people are being prescribed antidepressants

B

Can I also have the number of children referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for each of the years 2013 to 2017 inclusive.

Response

A

The Social Security Department (SSD) do not hold information on the number of people who are prescribed antidepressants and cannot provide any information on the ages of people who receive such prescriptions. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

SSD do hold information on the number of prescription items issued (packs). The table below shows the number of prescription items issued by GPs in primary care for antidepressant drugs.

B

Article applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.