Prescriptions For Drugs To Treat Alcohol Misuse At 167,000 In 2020/21

The number of prescriptions for drugs to treat alcohol misuse was 167,000 in 2020/21, according to published data from NHS Digital.

The number of prescriptions in England is 1% higher than 2019/20, but 15% lower than 2014/15, according to the Statistics On Alcohol, England 2021 report.

The total net ingredient cost was £4.63 million for drugs prescribed for alcohol dependence in 2020/21, which is 2% higher than 2019/20, and 33% higher than in 2014/15. Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) is the basic cost of a drug as listed in the Drug Tariff or price lists; it does not include discounts, prescription charges or fees.

The report also includes previously published data from other sources, including statistics around alcohol-related hospital admissions, published in October last year, as Local Alcohol Profiles For England: short statistical commentary, October 2021.

Drinking alcohol was the main reason for around 280,000 admissions to hospital in 2019/20, under the narrow measure, where the admission to hospital was attributable to alcohol. The number is 2% higher than in 2018/19. There were almost 980,000 admissions in 2019/20, under the broad measure, which is that the primary reason or a secondary diagnosis was linked to alcohol, this is 4% higher than 2018/19.