Publication, Part of Statistics on Local Stop Smoking Services in England
Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England - April 2022 to March 2023 (Q4, Annual)
Official statistics
Part 3 - Prescriptions and Pharmacotherapy
Prescription Items
This section presents information on the number of prescription items used to help people stop smoking, using Prescribing Analysis and Costing Tool (ePACT) data, which are accessed from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA).
The 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, dispensing costs, prescription charges or fees.
There are 3 main pharmacotherapies prescribed for the treatment of smoking dependence in England: Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT), Bupropion (Zyban) and Vareniciline (Champix).
The number of prescription items dispensed in England in 2022/23 was 412,536, compared to 2.6 million in 2010/11. Since then, this number has decreased annually.
In 2022/23, 360,619 items of NRTs were dispensed, a decrease from 2021/22 (374,169). The number of NRTs prescribed has been trending downwards and is now less than a quarter of the total in 2010/11 (1.5 million).
Varenicline is now the least common item. 1,208 items of Varenicline were dispensed in 2022/23. This is a large reduction on 2021/22 when 70,235 items were prescribed.
Bupropion prescriptions have been increasing since 2020/21. There were 51,709 items dispensed in 2022/23, increasing from 46,889 dispensed in 2021/22.
Cost of prescription items
The Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) of all prescription items used to help people quit smoking was £12.7 million in 2022/23.
This is less than a fifth of the total in 2010/11 when the NIC of all items was £65.9 million.
Average NIC per item
The average NIC per item for all pharmacotherapy items was £31 in 2022/23.
The average per item was £36 for Bupropion, £39 for Varenicline and £30 for NRT.
Free prescriptions
A substantial proportion of those setting quit dates were eligible to receive free prescriptions from the NHS. This section breaks down those eligible to receive free prescriptions from the NHS by number of quit attempts and self-reported quit rate.
Number of quit attempts
From 2011/12 until 2021/22, the number of people eligible to receive free prescriptions setting a quit date had been steadily declining (464,632 to 108,001). In 2022/23, this figure increased to 109,015.
Self-reported quit rate
The self-reported quit rate for people eligible to receive free prescriptions in 2022/23 is 54.0% which is similar to 2021/22 (54.3%). This remains higher than values seen between 2010/11 and 2019/20 (between 46% and 50%). For this group, the self-reported quit rate peaked in 2020/21, which coincides with the reduction in CO validations available due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pharmacotherapy
This section breaks down those setting a quit date by the type of pharmacotherapy used during their quit attempt. Patients can receive a variety of different treatments, including NCPs (Nicotine containing products), Bupropion/Varencicline only or any combination of licensed/unlicensed NCPs.
Number of quit attempts
‘Combination of licensed NCPs concurrently’ had the highest number of quit attempts (79,770), followed by 'Single NCP only' (41,197).
Self-reported quit rate
‘Licensed medication and an unlicensed NCP consecutively’ had the highest self-reported quit rate (67%). Other therapies varied between 61% for ‘Combination of a licensed medication and an unlicensed NCP concurrently’ and 46% for ‘Pharmacotherapy not known’.
Last edited: 31 August 2023 9:34 am