The number of prescriptions for antidepressants (FOI)The number of prescriptions for antidepressants (FOI)
Produced by the Freedom of Information officeAuthored by States of Jersey and published on
12 January 2016.Request
May I request the following:
The number of prescriptions for antidepressants in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015
The number of Islanders who were prescribed antidepressants in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and also separated by gender
The cost to the taxpayer in each of these years in relation to antidepressants
Response
The table below summarises the number of prescriptions for antidepressants, and their total net cost, dispensed in the community in Jersey as pharmaceutical benefit (it does not include any private prescriptions).
An estimate of the number of patients treated is also included based on an assumption that each person receives one prescription each month.
The Social Security Department does not hold information about either the number of individuals being prescribed a treatment or their gender.
Some antidepressants are used in the treatment of conditions other than depression, for example in the treatment of chronic nerve pain.
| Year | Total number of prescriptions dispensed | Total net drug cost | Estimated number of
patients treated |
| 2010 | 66,180 | £333,589 | 5,515 |
| 2011 | 67,390 | £429,059 | 5,610 |
| 2012 | 71,720 | £363,346 | 5,980 |
| 2013 | 81,536 | £520,791 | 6,800 |
| 2014 | 90,746 | £508,916 | 7,560 |
| 2015 (data only available from January to October) | 79,003 | £446,349 | 7,900 |
Social Security oversee the Health Insurance Fund which pays two benefits to insured Islanders; medical benefit which subsidies the cost of each GP consultation by £20.28 and pharmaceutical benefit which enables community prescribers such as doctors and dentists to prescribe medicines free of a dispensing charge and free of charges for the cost of the drug.
Social Security holds information on the volume of drugs dispensed as pharmaceutical benefit under the Health Insurance Law (but does not hold information on medicines which GPs may prescribe in their private practice and Islanders obtain privately without recourse to pharmaceutical benefit).
Social Security does not hold information on prescribing which occurs in secondary care (General Hospital services).
Social Security data can describe the amount of each medicine dispensed but does not record the number of people who receive medicines or their gender.
Therefore, the department is only able to provide an estimate as to the number of people, looking at the total volumes dispensed and charged to the Health Insurance Fund, based on an assumption that each person receives one prescription each month.
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