Depressive Illnesses: Drugs Mr. Swire To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of prescribing anti-depressant drugs in (a) East Devon constituency, (b) the South West region and (c) England was in the last year for which figures are available. Dawn Primarolo The net ingredient cost (NIC) of prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in the community for anti-depressant drugs as defined in sections 4.3 of the British National Formulary (BNF) is as follows. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Area |BNF name |NIC (£000)| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Devon primary care trust (PCT) |Antidepressant Drugs|3,687.3 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South West strategic health authority (SHA) |Antidepressant Drugs|26,859.8 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |England |Antidepressant Drugs|264,503.2 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Note:We are unable to supply information for East Devon constituency as this is not a health region. We have supplied information for the health area that best fits East Devon, namely Devon PCT. For the South West region we have supplied the figure for South West SHA.Source:Prescribing Analysis and Cost Tool system| | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------