Pharmaceutical Payments David Simpson To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total cost of pharmaceutical payments in Northern Ireland was in the last five years; what the total net ingredient cost was; and what the gross cost was per person. Paul Goggins The information requested is provided as follows. --------------------------------- |£ | --------------------------------- | |Gross cost|Net ingredient cost|Gross cost per person| --------------------------------- |2001 |295,606,789|272,437,580|175| --------------------------------- |2002 |323,650,874|298,933,228|191| --------------------------------- |2003 |354,350,542|330,158,987|208| --------------------------------- |2004 |380,996,679|365,272,924|223| --------------------------------- |2005 |383,146,826|359,853,479|224| --------------------------------- |Source: Central Services Agency| --------------------------------- David Simpson To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average cost per prescription item in Northern Ireland was in each of the last five years; what the total number of prescription forms was; and what was the average number of prescription items per person was in each year. Paul Goggins The information requested is provided as follows. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Total number of prescription items|Average gross cost per prescription item (£)|Average number of prescription items per person| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2001 |24,551,125 |12.04 |15 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002 |25,419,957 |12.73 |15 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003 |26,399,016 |13.42 |16 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004 |27,318,349 |13.95 |16 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005 |27,959,494 |13.70 |16 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Source: Central Services Agency| | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------