Dietary Supplements

Mr. Stephen O'Brien
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nutritional support products were dispensed in the community in each year since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo
Information on prescription items dispensed in the community in England and classified by the Prescription Pricing Division of the NHS Business Services Authority as for intravenous or oral nutrition, is in the following table. This excludes minerals or vitamins prescribed on the national health service.

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|    |Prescription items dispensed for intravenous and oral nutrition (thousand)|Net ingredient cost (£000)|
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|1997|2,689.2                                                                   |84,500.9                  |
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|1998|2,851.3                                                                   |93,642.6                  |
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|1999|3,005.7                                                                   |103,839.6                 |
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|2000|3,100.5                                                                   |111,418.5                 |
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|2001|3,315.2                                                                   |125,089.0                 |
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|2002|3,453.3                                                                   |135,403.6                 |
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|2003|3,671.8                                                                   |148,647.1                 |
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|2004|3,950.2                                                                   |163,426.6                 |
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|2005|4,207.0                                                                   |177,217.7                 |
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|2006|4,673.0                                                                   |200,774.9                 |
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