Dispening Doctors spent more on medicine than prescribing doctors in UK

In a Parliamentary written reply on Feb 3 99. Mr John Denham (Minister of State for Heath) told Mr Peter Bradley (Lab, Wrekin) that the average net ingredient cost(NIC) per patient for dispensing doctors was 188 pounds in the year of 97-98, compared to 78 pounds for prescribing doctors. He also said that the average NIC per branded item for dispensing doctors was 10.49 pounds, compared to 11.42 pounds for non-dispensing doctors. Nearly three quarters (74%) of dispensing doctors' prescriptions were for branded items, compared to 44 % for prescribing doctors.

Source The Pharmaceutical Journal (UK) Vol 262, p211 13/02/99