Correction notice: a total cost figure for hypnotics and anxiolytics has been corrected.
The total cost figure in the 'Summary' section of the hypnotics and anxiolytics summary narrative HTML file was corrected on 2 December 2024. This was due to a typographical error where a decimal point was omitted. All other occurrences of this figure were correct in the text, charts, and data in this release and have not changed.
Published 12 September 2024.
Summary
Mental health is a key area of the NHS Long Term Plan published in 2019.
This publication describes the prescribing and dispensing of medicines used to improve mental health in England. They do not include data on medicines used in secondary care, prisons, or issued by a private prescriber.
The Medicines Used in Mental Health publication is an experimental Official Statistic release.
Key findings
Between April to June 2024:
There were 23 million antidepressant items prescribed to an estimated 6.9 million identified patients. Compared to the previous quarter, this was a small increase of 1.5% for items and a less than one percent increase in identified patients.
Prescribing of hypnotics and anxiolytics items decreased by less than one percent to 3.3 million. Identified patients decreased by 2.5% to 1.0 million.
For drugs used in psychoses and related disorders, the number of items prescribed was 3.4 million, a 0.9% increase. Identified patients decreased by less than one percent to 660,000.
The number of CNS stimulants and drugs for ADHD items increased by 4.8% to 800,000, the largest percentage increase in items of the drug groups in this publication. There were 230,000 identified patients, an increase of 4.7%.
Drugs for dementia items increased by 2.4% to 1.2 million. Identified patients increased by 1.0% to 260,000.
CNS stimulants and drugs for ADHD had the largest change in costs out of the drug groups in this publication, increasing by 6.4%. Antipsychotics saw a similar increase in cost, at 6.2%. The cost of antidepressants also had an increase of 1.7% while costs decreased for hypnotics and anxiolytics as well as for drugs for dementia.
Resource list
Medicines Used in Mental Health - England Quarterly Summary Statistics April to June 2024 (HTML) Background information and methodology note (HTML)
Medicines used in Mental Health - Quarterly - Prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic April to June 2024 (HTML)Pre-release access list (HTML)
This publication has been produced using a reproducible analytical pipeline (RAP) as part of our commitment to transparency and open code. You can view the code used in this RAP on our Medicines Used in Mental Health GitHub repository.
Changes to these statistics
For this release, we’ve updated the National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL) we use to a newer edition. More details can be found in the background information and methodology note.
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Responsible statistician: Kirsty Gray