NHS spending on over-the-counter remedies attacked

Family NHS doctors in England prescribed £9.3bn worth of medicines in 2015, a near five per cent increase on the previous year.

At a time when the NHS is under acute financial strain, these figures would always draw attention. But it is the revelation that hundreds of millions of pounds are spent prescribing inexpensive and readily available over-the-counter remedies that has prompted strongest criticism.

Prescriptions for aspirin and paracetamol, both available for pennies in supermarkets, cost the NHS collectively around £115m last year, while The Times cites antacids, mainly Rennie and Gaviscon, as accounting for £26m.

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Elsewhere, prescriptions for multivitamins cost £3.8m and £1.6m for the antihistamine Benadryl, while hundreds of thousands of pounds went on head lice treatments, Nytol herbal sleep tablets and the Bonjela and Bazooka ulcer and verruca creams.

Perhaps most eyebrow-raising of all was the millions of pounds spent on mouthwash, with a total of £1.8m being spent on a brand available for £2.99 in Superdrug, the Daily Telegraph says.

"Hand sanitiser was prescribed, while Strepsils, Halls, Throaties and Tyrozets lozenges accounted for more than £25,000," the paper adds.

While there is a policy that prescriptions are paid for in the UK – at a cost of £8.40 per item, which would make them uneconomical for over-the-counter items – the Telegraph notes that 90 per cent are actually offered free.

Anyone under the age of 16 or over 60, people of any age with a recognised disability or who are pregnant and those on in-work benefits all get drugs and treatments free.

"At a time when the NHS is facing dire straits financially and consequently limiting provision of potentially life-saving cancer drugs and vital operations, it beggars belief that they can justify forking out for prescriptions for everyday household goods such as throat sweets," said Mark Littlewood, of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Katherine Murphy, the chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "Practitioners must always make sure that prescription items are necessary. However, patients also have responsibilities to not waste the NHS's scarce resources and should endeavour to pay for everyday items such as cold remedies out of their own pocket."

Dr Maureen Baker, the chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, countered that family doctors "will always prescribe in the best interests of our patients" and that "in some cases, these products are very expensive and decisions might be made to offer them on prescription if there is a medical reason for doing so".