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Scottish dispensing doctors more cost effective
Cost growth rising much more slowly in dispensing practices
Dr Allan Tennant reports
30th of June 2010
Dispensing doctors are now spending £16.55 less than their prescribing colleagues on drugs for each patient per year. There has been an increase in costs of 2.1% in the last 2 years, whilst prescribing patients saw an increase in costs of 5.8% over the same time frame.
On the 25th of May we published the latest numbers on Scottish dispensing doctors and patients.
Earlier in the month we published the latest dispensing data for doctors and pharmacists
Combining the two lots of data provides the following spreadsheet
| 2009 | Prescribing | Doctor dispensing |
| Population | 5,325,295 | 167,728 |
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| Number of Prescriptions (Items) | 84,958,850 | 3,212,602 |
| Items per patient | 15.95 | 19.15 |
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| Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) | £889,523,862 | £25,241,891 |
| NIC per item | £10.47 | £7.86 |
| NIC per patient | £167.04 | £150.49 |
There are 5,493,023 patients in Scotland, of which 167,728 are dispensing patients, producing 5,325,295 prescribing patients.
In 2007 The NIC for dispensing doctors was £147.42; compared to NIC for prescriptions dispensed in pharmacies of £157.86.
We can see that the NIC for prescribing patients has increased by £9.18 over two years, whilst dispensing doctors have seen NIC per patient rise by £3.07.