A ‘record’ 1.16 billion prescription items were dispensed by community pharmacies across England in 2024/25, representing a 4% increase from the previous year, according to latest figures.
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) report, published today, shows a continuing upward trend in prescription items dispensed by pharmacies – with the number of items dispensed up 16.2% more than the 995 million items dispensed in 2015/16.
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The data set also showed that pharmacies issued 1.9 million items following NHS Pharmacy First clinical pathway consultations.
Across all prescription items, 1.13 billion were dispensed via the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS). This was 97% of all items dispensed – a less than 1% increase from 2023/24. The majority of contractors (99.2%) dispensed at least one item through EPS.
And reimbursement costs for drugs and appliances were £10.4bm, which marks a 2% increase compared to 2023/24, according to the NHSBSA General Pharmaceutical Services (GPhS) report.
The average number of items dispensed per community pharmacy increased by 12.5% from 92,700 in 2023/24 to 104,000 in 2024/25. This was an increase of 25.1% from the average of 83,300 in 2015/16.
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The report found that the number of vaccines administered by pharmacies as part of the flu vaccination advanced service also increased by 7.8% in 2024/25, following a significant decrease in the previous year.
The New Medicine Service (NMS) has also shown ‘sizeable increases’ for the last four financial years.
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The value of single activity fees paid to contractors was £1.5bn.
The data used in this report is collected from prescriptions submitted to the NHSBSA by dispensing contractors, which are community pharmacies and appliance contractors. These prescriptions are issued by GPs or other authorised prescribers such as nurses, dentists, and allied health professionals.
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