OTC drugs: push to cut prescribing fails to bring savings in some categories, BMJ analysis finds

A drive by NHS England to reduce GPs’ prescribing of drugs sold over the counter failed to deliver savings across some drug categories last year, a new analysis by The BMJ has shown. Although spending was reduced in some categories by as much as 40%, in others it increased by similar amounts (Table 1).

Experts said it may take longer for savings to materialise in some areas and that more work was needed to understand the reasons for the variation.

In April The BMJ reported that NHS England’s target to save £100m (€110m; $125m) a year through reductions in spending on OTC drugs delivered only modest savings of £25.9m in the year to January 2019.1 GP leaders said that this was because most GPs were already prescribing sensibly before NHS England’s policy push.

The BMJ’s latest analysis looked more closely at prescribing trends across the different categories of OTC drugs before and after NHS …