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Ms Primarolo
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will estimate the savings obtainable if all drugs were prescribed generically.
| Formal admissions to NHS facilities, Private Nursing Homes (authorised to detain patients under the Registered Homes Act 1984) and Special Hospitals of patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 and other legislation, by legal status England 1985–1989–90 | ||||||||||
| England | Numbers | |||||||||
| Legal status | Numbers (a) | |||||||||
| 1985 | 1986 | 1987–88 | 1988–89 | 1989–90 | ||||||
| Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | |
| Total formal admissions (d) | 8,153 | 9,134 | 7,904 | 8,792 | 8,004 | 8,773 | 8,247 | 8,993 | 8,614 | 8,698 |
| Under Mental Health Act 1983: Non-offenders | ||||||||||
| 2 (assessment, with or without treatment) | 3,121 | 4,780 | 3,416 | 4,971 | 3,716 | 5,151 | 4,047 | 5,468 | 4,301 | 5,233 |
| 3 (to hospital for treatment) | 943 | 1,161 | 902 | 1,075 | 1,193 | 1,349 | 1,322 | 1,535 | 1,437 | 1,580 |
| 4 (for assessment in emergency) | 1,525 | 1,939 | 1,205 | 1,581 | 945 | 1,251 | 885 | 1,145 | 826 | 1,042 |
| 5(2) (power to hold informal patient already in hospital) | 130 | 137 | 129 | 148 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Mentally disordered offenders | ||||||||||
| 35 (remanded to hospital for report) | 114 | 32 | 158 | 43 | 188 | 46 | 240 | 59 | 230 | 54 |
| 36 (remanded to hospital for treatment) | 28 | 5 | 26 | 7 | 31 | 7 | 28 | 1 | 33 | 5 |
| 37(4)(convicted person detained in a place of safety pending admission to hospital) | .. | .. | .. | .. | 62 | 18 | 59 | 25 | 68 | 18 |
| 37 (convicted person sent to hospital for treatment with S.41 restrictions) (b) | 157 | 22 | 150 | 20 | 230 | 45 | 175 | 41 | 194 | 41 |
Mr. Sackville
An estimate, based on prescribing statistics for 1992 in England, suggests that savings of up to £80 million could have been achieved if all drugs which could have been dispensed in the generic form had been prescribed generically.