ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU SICK

Huge rise in bill for ‘free’ prescriptions, including millions spent on painkillers that cost only pennies in supermarkets

THE cost of Scotland’s free prescriptions has soared to £1.3billion – with millions spent on common painkillers which cost pennies in supermarkets.

Taxpayers are funding everyday drugs such as paracetamol and aspirin under the controversial SNP policy. NHS-funded paracetamol cost £8.8million last year and aspirin £2.6million, making them two of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the country.

But both are available over the counter or in supermarkets for as little as 19p a pack for paracetamol and 28p for aspirin.

NHS prescriptions have been free to Scots patients since 2011.

But last night, critics warned that spending millions funding drugs that are affordable to most people was ‘wasteful’.

The revelation comes amid growing fears about the cost pressures on the NHS, with boards having to make unprecedented savings and waiting times targets being missed.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers will be completely fed up to hear story after story about NHS funding, while at the same time being forced to pay for

everyday items. Poor NHS procurement means aspirin and paracetamol are much more expensive when dispensed via prescription than if they were bought in shops.

‘If we are serious about reforming the NHS to put it on an even footing, then such wasteful practices have to be curtailed.’

The cost of prescriptions has gone up by 25 per cent in the past decade, to £1.3billion.

Some 103.4million items were dispensed in 2017-18 – up 20.5 per cent from 85.8million ten years ago.

The overall cost was almost £250 per person in Scotland last year, the data shows.

Paracetamol and aspirin were the fourth and eighth most commonly issued prescriptions, at 2.5million and 2.01million items respectively.

Paracetamol is prescribed in large quantities to patients with long-term chronic pain conditions such as osteoarthritis. Prescriptions for the drug have risen from 1.6million items, at a cost of £5.6million, a decade ago.

Aspirin prescriptions – for patients at risk of blood clots, such as those who have had a heart attack – have fallen in a decade from three million items, costing £4.5million.

The average cost last year of a single prescription for paracetamol was £3.53 and for aspirin £1.30. The number of pills in each prescription is not listed. Supermarket packs usually contain 16 pills.

Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘With drugs such as paracetamol and aspirin often cheaper to purchase over the counter, we need to ensure we are getting value for money for our NHS.

‘Under this Government we have seen the total mismanagement of our health service. These rising costs pose another challenge and the SNP need to outline how they plan to deal with this.’

Pregabalin, used to treat epilepsy and chronic pain, cost the NHS the most in 2017-18, at £36.38million.

Omeprazole – for acid reflux, indigestion and stomach ulcers – was the most prescribed drug, with 3.59million prescriptions.

The NHS Scotland Prescribing and Medicines: Dispenser Payments and Prescription Cost Analysis report cites reasons for the rise in the number of prescriptions, such as ‘an ageing population, more people living with long-term conditions and increased use by GPs of evidence-based guidelines that recommend drugs to treat certain conditions’.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: ‘The increase in costs for drugs dispensed in the community is in line with anticipated trend and reflects the fact more patients are being treated closer to home.

‘These new treatments deliver better outcomes for patients and are best value for money. However, we expect

‘Mismanagment of our NHS’

NHS Scotland to always look for opportunities to work with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the cost for drugs.

‘Supply issues, an ageing population, increasingly complex healthcare needs, more people living with long-term conditions and the impact of the volatility in the value of the pound are contributory factors to increased costs.

‘Legislation controlling what the NHS pays for medicines and supplies is reserved to the UK Government and we are continuing to press them to ensure we can get best value.’

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