Welsh dispensing data for April and May has indicated an average item decrease for both months in 2017 compared to 2016.
In April 2017, dispensing doctors processed 177,140 forms and 359,211 items, and in May, the numbers were 190,644 forms and 382,838 items.
The monthly data published by the Primary Care Services Division of NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership also indicates there has been a reduction in the number of dispensing practices, from 82 in April 2016 to 79 in May 2017. In the same period, the number of pharmacy contractors dropped by 1 from 717 to 716.
Further analysis of the data including comparisons to 2016 figures is available below.
The monthly data published by NHS Wales for dispensing by doctors “shows the number of forms and items issued by each Dispensing GP Practice and each GP Practice that personally administers items in Wales” presented here as ‘GPs Combined. The data for dispensing doctors has then been extracted from that total.
| Month: April | No of premises | Number of forms issued / dispensed | Number of Items |
| GPs Combined
– 2017 |
398 | 207,338
(Av. 520.9) |
309,221
(Av. 980.5) |
| GPs Combined
– 2016 |
405 | 219,930
(Av. 543.0) |
407,859
(Av. 1,007.1) |
| Dispensing doctors
– 2017 |
81 | 177,140
(Av. 2,186.9) |
359,211
(Av. 4,434.7) |
| Dispensing doctors
– 2016 |
82 | 186,367
(Av. 2,272.8) |
370,405
(4,553.7) |
| Pharmacies
– 2017 |
717 | 281,207
(Av. 3,922) |
5,854,702
(Av. 8,165.6) |
| Pharmacies
– 2016 |
717 | 3,046,693
(Av. 4,249.2) |
6,295,383
(Av. 8,780.2) |
| Month: May | No of premises | Number of forms issued / dispensed | Number of Items |
| GPs Combined
– 2017 |
392 | 225,464
(Av. 575.2) |
418, 641
(Av. 1,068.0) |
| GPs Combined
– 2016 |
408 | 220,992
(Av. 541.6) |
410,352
(Av. 1,005.8) |
| Dispensing doctors
– 2017 |
79 | 190,644
(Av. 2,413.2) |
382,838
(Av. 4,846.1) |
| Dispensing doctors
– 2016 |
81 | 188,379
(Av. 2,325.7) |
376,779
(Av. 4,651.6) |
| Pharmacies
– 2017 |
716 | 3,046,001
(Av 4,254.2) |
6,317,081
(Av. 8,822.7) |
| Pharmacies
– 2016 |
717 | 2,954,451
(Av. 4,120.6) |
6,124,699
(Av. 8,542.1) |