13.08.13
Diabetes medicines up 50% in seven years
The cost of prescriptions for diabetes has increased by almost 50% since 2005/06, new statistics show.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) found that from 2005/06 to 2012/13 the number of prescriptions for diabetes increased by 56.9% and the cost rose by 48.7%.
The figures cover England and show that the number of items prescribed for diabetes in 2012/13 hit 42.5 million items, costing £764.1m. This represents a 4.7% rise in the number of prescriptions from the previous year, but only a 0.5% rise in net ingredient cost.
Prescribing for diabetes now accounts for 9.3% of the total cost of drugs on the NHS, up from 8.9% in 2011/12.
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