Written Question · S5W-36221 · Session 5
How many people have received a medical prescription since charges for these began to be phased out in 2008.
The question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have received a medical prescription since charges for these began to be phased out in 2008.
The answer
Information on number of patients receiving prescriptions prior to April 2009 is not available centrally since Community Health Index (CHI) numbers were not widely recorded in the prescribing systems at that time. Consequently, patient numbers cannot be calculated for this period.
Table 1 contains the number of patients with a paid prescription by financial year from financial year 2009-2010 to financial year 2020-2021 (partial year) Paid Financial YearNumber of Patients2009-103,981,8152010-114,047,3062011-124,132,6942012-134,190,1942013-144,209,4572014-154,235,1982015-164,241,4952016-174,233,4082017-184,220,9472018-194,213,0392019-204,217,8932020-21 p3,721,542
Source: Public Health Scotland, PIS (Prescribing data)
p – partial financial year, data available until December 2020
Table 2 – Total number of patients with a paid prescription from April 2009 to December 2020.Total number of patients April 2009
- Dec 2020 6,515,438
Please note that the patient count in table 2 is higher than the population of Scotland as this counts individual patients across a ten-year period and will include patients who have subsequently died or left the country. Patients will receive prescriptions in multiple years and as such the same patient is counted for each year they received a prescription in Table 1. In Table 2 a patient is only counted once.
Table 1 contains the number of patients with a paid prescription by financial year from financial year 2009-2010 to financial year 2020-2021 (partial year) Paid Financial YearNumber of Patients2009-103,981,8152010-114,047,3062011-124,132,6942012-134,190,1942013-144,209,4572014-154,235,1982015-164,241,4952016-174,233,4082017-184,220,9472018-194,213,0392019-204,217,8932020-21 p3,721,542
Source: Public Health Scotland, PIS (Prescribing data)
p – partial financial year, data available until December 2020
Table 2 – Total number of patients with a paid prescription from April 2009 to December 2020.Total number of patients April 2009
- Dec 2020 6,515,438
Please note that the patient count in table 2 is higher than the population of Scotland as this counts individual patients across a ten-year period and will include patients who have subsequently died or left the country. Patients will receive prescriptions in multiple years and as such the same patient is counted for each year they received a prescription in Table 1. In Table 2 a patient is only counted once.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S5W-36221 by reference.