NHS in England 'spent £80m prescribing paracetamol'

Clinical commissioning groups in England picked up a bill for £80m for paracetamol prescription in 2013

GPs are dispensing paracetamol that costs the NHS twice as much as the price of the same drug in supermarkets, figures show.

Up to 22m prescriptions a year are being written for the painkiller by GPs, costing clinical commissioning groups more than £80m, the BBC found.

That is the equivalent of 58p for a pack that can cost 14p in shops.

It comes after the BBC obtained figures showing how the NHS pays £1.6m annually for the drug, in Norfolk alone.

As a result, patients are being asked by GPs to buy their own paracetamol - however, shops can only sell two 16 tablet boxes at a time, while GPs can prescribe 100 tablet packs.

'Always exceptions'

But, the Department of Health (DH) said because GPs are allowed to write prescriptions for large amounts of the drug for patients it cuts the overall cost.

Dr Tesh Patel, who leads the Norwich Clinical Commissioning Group's prescribing panel, said patients need to be educated about the drug's "true cost to the NHS".

"If GP time is included, the cost rises even higher," he added.

But, think tank 2020health said there would always be exceptions to patients buying their own paracetamol, although a spokesman agreed GPs should encourage them to do so.

Doctors are allowed to prescribe 100 tablet packs but patient can only buy two 16 tablet boxes at a time

"Many people will not be aware of the costs and would probably be horrified if they knew," he said.

"However, there will be patients who will need paracetamol for a long term condition and sensitivity needs to be adopted in those cases."

A DH spokesman said the difference in price can also be explained by how prescriptions are issued.

"Doctors can prescribe hundreds of doses of paracetamol with one prescription, which clearly would cost more than a single packet of 16 tablets on the high street," he said.

Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group spent more than £1m last year on paracetamol prescriptions and urged patients to think about alternative ways of getting the drug.

Katherine Murphy, of the Patients' Association, said: "We would support [patients buying paracetamol] on condition people who rely on it for pain relief and cannot afford to buy it, continue to receive it on prescription."