davieG Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 Nearly 50% take prescription drugs By James GallagherHealth editor, BBC News website Continue reading the main story Related Stories Controversial statin rules go ahead Doctors urged to cut medicines waste Text reminders 'stop medicine waste' Half of women and 43% of men in England are now regularly taking prescription drugs, according to the comprehensive Health Survey for England. Cholesterol-lowering statins, pain relief and anti-depressants were among the most prescribed medicines. The report, by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), showed an average of 18.7 prescriptions per person in England in 2013. The cost to the NHS was in excess of £15bn-a-year. More than a fifth of men and nearly a quarter of women were taking at least three prescriptions. All the figures exclude contraceptives and smoking cessation products. Nearly a third of prescriptions were for cardiovascular disease with more than 65 million prescriptions for tackling high blood pressure, heart failure or cholesterol levels. Simvastatin - which lowers cholesterol - was the single most prescribed item with 40 million prescriptions. Continue reading the main story Use of prescribed medicines 50% of women regularly take prescription drugs 43% of men regularly take prescription drugs 30% of total prescriptions were for cardiovascular disease 5% of total prescriptions were for antidepressants Source: Health Survey for England 2013 Getty Images Heart Dr Jennifer Mindell, one of the report's authors at University College London, said: "This is the first nationally-representative study to report on the use of prescribed medicines taken by people in the community, not just those within the healthcare system. "That half of men over 65 are taking cholesterol-lowering medicines reflects the high risk of cardiovascular disease in this group. "Stopping smoking, being a healthy weight, eating more vegetables and fruit, and being physically active reduce people's risk of these diseases, for people who want to avoid taking medicines." Weight was strongly linked with the number of pills being popped. Antidepressants were taken by more than one in 10 women - double the figure for men. The drugs were most commonly taken by middle-aged women and those from deprived areas - 17% of the poorest women took antidepressants compared with 7% of the richest. Dr Sarah Jackson, at University College London, commented: "It's well known that rates of depression are much higher among women than men, so I am not surprised to see that antidepressant use follows the same pattern in this study. "People with depression are less likely to be in regular employment, and people who are unemployed or in low paid jobs are more likely to have depression." Obesity Overweight and obese people were more likely to need prescription drugs. More than half of severely obese people in England reported taking at least one prescribed medicine and a third took at least three. Sue Faulding, a pharmacist and programme manager of prescribing and primary care services at the HSCIC, said: "Obesity is often associated with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, joint pain and depression. "Lifestyle changes are always recommended in the first instance, but medicines can help to address the symptoms and this study shows that medicine use increases steadily with body mass index."
Finnegan Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 Cost to the NHS? Piss off, I'm convinced a lot of GPs push prescriptions (which are getting crazy expensive) to sell pharmaceuticals.
Guest MattP Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 Cost to the NHS? Piss off, I'm convinced a lot of GPs push prescriptions (which are getting crazy expensive) to sell pharmaceuticals. Same here. All part of the plan, move along, nothing to see here. The people become dependant, the companies make the dollar and the state rakes up the desperation of its followers. Everyone's a winner.
Webbo Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 The report, by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), showed an average of 18.7 prescriptions per person in England in 2013. That's a shocking statistic especially considering I've had 1 prescription in 20 years. Some people must in the doctors twice a week.
Finnegan Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 I refuse to believe the government doesn't get back from pharmaceutical industry whatever prescriptions may or may not cost the NHS. It's one of the biggest industries in the world and by far one of the shadiest. If my repeats weren't profitable, I refuse to believe they'd have been checked at me so enthusiastically.
Finnegan Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 That's a shocking statistic especially considering I've had 1 prescription in 20 years. Some people must in the doctors twice a week. Repeats. I avoid the doctors as much as possible but I live on two repeats. One, omeprazole, is a potent anti acid that I'm in agony without. I've made considerable lifestyle corrections to combat reflux (and I'm far from some massive fatty) but I'm still co dependant on them. Consider how common reflux is, then think about diabetes, auto immune diseases, depression, anxiety, ocd, adhd, cancer, IBS, asthma, contraceptives, arthritis and all of the associated repeat prescriptions for that lot alone, just off the top of my head? I'm sure I'm missing a lot of obvious, very common conditions and long term illnesses.
leicsmac Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 Yup. Pharma companies are making insane £££ off peoples dependencies on these drugs. Not entirely sure about this (haven't fact checked it) but I remember reading that there hasn't been a new antibiotic developed in the last two decades. Why should the companies put in the effort to conceive something like that, when they can float the latest boutique antidepressant/slimming pill that people take every day for a really long time?
MooseBreath Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 It's about time that the lid was blown off the pharmaceutical industry. If people thought banking was immoral just wait until they see what big pharma has been up to.
pSinatra Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 The pharmacies are not helping the situation either, pushing repeat prescriptions & unwanted pills on their customers. I live next next door to a chemist & if they are short of a delivery driver & I've got a couple of hours spare, I'll do a bit of delivering for them. It actually helps me, in that I get to meet plenty of local pensioners & infirm, tell them I'm a gardener & they become a customer of mine too. The chemist takes care of repeat prescriptions & deliver any drugs straight to you door, meaning that the customer/patient has little or no contact with their doctor. Whilst there are some that desperately need their pills, there are just as many who don't............because they have been over-prescribed & they already have a lifetime's supply in their cupboard. The pharmaceuticals are making their vast amounts of money, the pharmacy is also cashing in & the pills are going in the bin.
DennisNedry Posted 10 December 2014 Posted 10 December 2014 The pharmacies are not helping the situation either, pushing repeat prescriptions & unwanted pills on their customers. I live next next door to a chemist & if they are short of a delivery driver & I've got a couple of hours spare, I'll do a bit of delivering for them. It actually helps me, in that I get to meet plenty of local pensioners & infirm, tell them I'm a gardener & they become a customer of mine too. The chemist takes care of repeat prescriptions & deliver any drugs straight to you door, meaning that the customer/patient has little or no contact with their doctor. Whilst there are some that desperately need their pills, there are just as many who don't............because they have been over-prescribed & they already have a lifetime's supply in their cupboard. The pharmaceuticals are making their vast amounts of money, the pharmacy is also cashing in & the pills are going in the bin. This couldn't be more true. My mum works in a pharmacy, and tells me how just that one shop have to send thousands of pounds worth of medicines to be incinerated each year. These include everyday pills like headache tablets etc that are still in date.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.