Prescription items issued by GPs (FOI)

​Request

Could you send me the statistics for the number of times prescription drugs were administered to patients by GPs in the Island in 2015, 2016 and 2017?

Also, could you send me the breakdown of what types of drugs they were (Opioids, anti-depressants and so on)?

Response

The table below shows the number of prescription items issued by GPs in primary care. ‘Prescription items’ are the separate products which appear on a prescription, acknowledging that more than one item can be prescribed on a prescription.

GPs may also issue post-dated prescriptions; thus in a single consultation two or three prescriptions could be issued to be dispensed in the following months. We are therefore unable to provide the number of times these drugs are administered as we do not hold the information in this format.

Prescription items dispensed by GPs