Community pharmacies dispensed 1.26 billion prescription items in England in 2024/2025 – a 4% increase from 1.21 billion in the previous year.

The cost of prescription items dispensed in the community in England was £11.2bn and a 2% increase from £10.9bn in 2023/24, according to a new report from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA).

In its annual Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) for 2024/25, the report shows an upwards trend in the cost of prescription items, increasing by 20% from 2015/16 to 2024/25 – an increase of £1.86bn.

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The total number of prescription items dispensed has also increased by 16% from 2015/16 to 2024/25 – an increase of 170 million items.

Statin medication Atorvastatin, a drug used to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, was the most dispensed drug in England once again, with 73 million items.

Separately, antidiabetic drug Dapagliflozin had the highest cost in 2024/25 of £333m. It is also used to treat adults with heart failure and chronic kidney disease.

Of the top 10 chemical substances by cost in 2024/25, three are used to treat type 2 diabetes and two are glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists used to help lose weight. Generic items made up 86% of the total items prescribed in 2024/25.

Both of the GLP-1 receptor agonists, semaglutide and tirzepatide, are new entries into the 10 most dispensed chemical substances by cost in 2024/25.

British National Formulary (BNF) Chapter 6 Endocrine System accounted for 19% of total costs in England in 2024/25 and BNF Chapter 2 Cardiovascular System accounted for 30% of all items dispensed in England in 2024/25.

Mike Dent, director of pharmacy funding at Community Pharmacy England (CPE), said: 'The dispensing of vital medicines is a core function for community pharmacies, and it is one that continues to grow year on year. The Prescription Cost Analysis highlights this rising trend of national prescription item volumes, further intensifying existing financial challenges and workload pressures that pharmacy teams are facing.

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'Volatility in medicines pricing and availability also continues to have a detrimental effect on this important part of the sector’s role in procuring those medicines cost effectively for the NHS.

'This cannot continue: patients and pharmacy owners in England deserve a properly funded and fully functioning pharmacy network. Government must protect pharmacies by fulfilling its commitment to work with us to develop a sustainable funding model for the sector.'

A spokesperson for the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) said: 'These new statistics show that pharmacies are managing a record workload, dispensing nearly 300 million more items than they did this time 10 years ago, a 20% increase.

'This is the same time as the pharmacy network has dipped to its smallest level since 2005 due to ongoing pharmacy closures and despite the recent uplift their finances remain very difficult, because of the years of underfunding this government have inherited.

'We know pharmacies have immense potential to shift care into the community and expand the number of clinical services they deliver but this cannot be done whilst managing these sorts of pressures from their core service.

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'We want to deliver the government's ambitions for community health care and want to work with ministers to make sure their vital work delivering medication is also sustainable.'