Cost of prescriptions rises year-on-year

The annual report showed a 3.8% increase in the number of prescriptions dispensed in 2024

The amount the States spent on prescriptions rose last year, a report has found.

In its annual report Guernsey's Prescribing Support Unit (PSU) said its prescribing-related expenditure had risen to £23.6m in 2024, up by 12.6% on 2023.

The report said the basic drug cost in 2024 had been £20.4m, an increase of £1.1m or 5.2% on 2023.

The report, which looks at the trends in prescribing and the likely reasons, also found there had been 1.77m prescriptions dispensed as Pharmaceutical Benefit in the year, up by 3.8% on 2023.

Another key finding was the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) drugs and treatments with technological appraisals (TA) dispensed in the community had cost about £3 million.

Prescribing advisor Geraldine O'Riordan said: "A combined £385,000 was saved through targeted deprescribing and the savings via rebates.

"This meant that the cost of new NICE TA drugs to HSC was reduced by £2 million in 2024."

The report found rebates and discounts worth £976,000 had been recovered on community dispensing of high-cost drugs and additional discounts had reduced hospital dispensing costs by 40%.

"Public engagement in reducing waste by crossing off 139,859 unwanted items on prescription forms saved a further significant sum," Ms O'Riordan added.