Analysis of medications prescribed by NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups, or CCGs, during the early period of lockdown shows that NHS Salford CCG prescribed more medication than any other CCG in Greater Manchester, with 175.3 prescriptions per 1,000 patients, a 10.9% rise from the same period in the previous year.
Data from NHS Digital was analysed by Echo (the online repeat prescription service by LloydsPharmacy) for March this year and included Salford prescriptions for anti-anxiety (7.1 prescriptions per 1,000 patients), insomnia (12.5 prescriptions per 1,000 patients) and anti-depressants (155.8 prescriptions per 1,000 patients)...
In terms of anti-depressants, Salford CCG came top in Greater Manchester, with Tameside and Glossop CCG coming in second with 143 prescriptions per 1,000 patients.
Year on year, Salford's prescription level increased from 39,075 in March 2019, to 42,073 in March 2020, a 10.9% rise, although NHS Stockport CCG had the biggest year on year increase , a rise of 12.6%.
March 2020 had the most antidepressants prescribed of any month on record (6,575,111) in England, and the North West as a whole saw the highest rate of anti-depressant prescribing for March and April in the whole country at 233 antidepressants per 1,000 patients.
"A lot of people ordered their next prescription early because there was so much uncertainty about how lockdown would work and people didn't want to be left without medicines" explains Alistair Murray, Chief Pharmacist at Echo
"This led to some short term supply issues across the country but wasn't as marked as the panic-buying that we saw in supermarkets and the medicines supply chain returned to normal quite quickly" he adds "With antidepressants, we know that people can experience withdrawal symptoms if they stop taking them suddenly so it's not surprising that people didn't want to risk running out of their antidepressants.
"It's unlikely that the increase at this stage is due to new prescriptions because there is normally a gap between initial contact with a GP and the time of first prescription while other options such as talking therapies are considered" he says "However, we know from various surveys that many people have experienced a worsening of their mental health during COVID and lockdown so we will be revisiting the data for May and June once it becomes available as this will show some of the more lasting impact of lockdown on mental health..."
For more details on the Echo analysis – click here
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