HRT use continues to rise with nearly 15 million items prescribed in 2024/25

The prescribing of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in England has continued to climb, with 14.7 million items issued to an estimated 2.8 million patients during 2024/25, according to new data published by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA).

The figures, from the report Hormone Replacement Therapy Statistics – England: April 2015 to June 2025, show an 11% year-on-year rise in HRT prescriptions compared with 2023/24, while the number of patients identified as receiving HRT increased by 6.4%, from 2.6 million to 2.8 million.

Patients aged 50 to 54 remained the most common group receiving HRT, according to the report.

Estradiol 0.06% gel was the most frequently prescribed formulation, with 1.3 million items dispensed – a 13% increase on the previous year.

The use of the HRT Prescription Prepayment Certificate (HRT PPC) also rose, accounting for 21% of all HRT items in 2024/25 – up nearly seven percentage points from 2023/24.

The HRT PPC allows patients to pay a single annual fee of £19.80 for unlimited prescriptions of qualifying HRT medicines.

The NHSBSA data also highlighted a continuing disparity in access, with patients in the least deprived areas more than twice as likely to receive HRT prescribing as those in the most deprived areas.

Earlier this year, the NHSBSA revealed over 200,000 prescriptions were wrongly claimed using the HRT PPC between June 2024 and May 2025.

Today, the government announced that menopause advice will be included in routine NHS health checks for the first time, in what it described as a ‘landmark step’ towards improving women’s healthcare.