Costs and items prescribed through general practices, Wales

This dataset has been archived. View the replacement dataset.

See what variables and values are shown in your table

Variable	Visibility	Selected values	Action
Year	Shown in table	All 53 values	Change values
Data description	Shown in table	All 5 values	Change values
Area	Shown in table	Wales	Value cannot be changed

Table

Data values	Data description	Year	Area
14,402,992	Cost (£)	1973-74	Wales
21,332,305	Items	1973-74	Wales
0.68	Cost (£) per item	1973-74	Wales
5.14	Cost (£) per GP registered population	1973-74	Wales
7.6	Items per GP registered population	1973-74	Wales
17,114,451	Cost (£)	1974-75	Wales
22,266,985	Items	1974-75	Wales
0.77	Cost (£) per item	1974-75	Wales
6.05	Cost (£) per GP registered population	1974-75	Wales
7.9	Items per GP registered population	1974-75	Wales
21,697,370	Cost (£)	1975-76	Wales
22,888,545	Items	1975-76	Wales
0.95	Cost (£) per item	1975-76	Wales
7.67	Cost (£) per GP registered population	1975-76	Wales
8.1	Items per GP registered population	1975-76	Wales
27,888,391	Cost (£)	1976-77	Wales
23,774,813	Items	1976-77	Wales
1.17	Cost (£) per item	1976-77	Wales
9.86	Cost (£) per GP registered population	1976-77	Wales
8.4	Items per GP registered population	1976-77	Wales
35,230,614	Cost (£)	1977-78	Wales
24,090,989	Items	1977-78	Wales
1.46	Cost (£) per item	1977-78	Wales
12.42	Cost (£) per GP registered population	1977-78	Wales
8.5	Items per GP registered population	1977-78	Wales

Showing 1 to 25 of 260 rows

Page 1 of 11

Metadata

The metadata for this dataset is not included when you download the data. You can download this separately. This contains all the information from the 'About this dataset' tab.

Next update expected:September 2026

Updates

• 16th July 2026:

  This dataset has been archived due to data now being available in ‘Prescription items and cost by area, GP cluster, BNF chapter and year’.

• 2nd October 2025: Dataset first published.

Main information

• Designation: Official statistics
• Data provider: NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
• Data source: Prescribing Services
• Time period covered: April 1973 to March 2026
• Dataset ID: 204c95d1-e8fa-4726-9470-238863207d7e

Overview

• Summary of dataset and variables:

  This dataset is based on items prescribed by any Welsh general practice staff member, qualified to prescribe, which are subsequently dispensed in the community in the UK.

  'Items’ refer to each different medicine or appliance listed on a prescription regardless of quantity or volume. Only items which are dispensed are counted.

  Net ingredient cost, measured in pounds sterling, is the underlying cost of the item, before any additional fees (for example, dispensing fees to pharmacies) or discounts (NHS clawbacks) are applied.

  General practice registered population is used for population measures, as the items prescribed are prescribed to the general practice population rather than the overall population of Wales. These two measures are similar but some Welsh residents are registered to English general practices and vice versa.

  The number of items prescribed, and their associated costs are based on the financial year recorded which may in a select number of cases be different than the year written.

• Data collection or calculation:

  Prescriptions data are obtained from Prescribing Services, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership and are based on information on prescription forms sent by the prescriber for payment.

• Statistical quality:

  See associated Statistical Release for detailed notes, background and definitions.

• Related reports:
  • Statistical Release

Published by

• Organisation: Welsh Government
• Contact email: stats.healthinfo@gov.wales