Cannabis: Medical Treatments
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS prescriptions for cannabis based products there have been in each year since 2018.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The following table shows the total number of National Health Service prescriptions for licensed cannabis-based medicines, namely Nabilone, Sativex, and Epidyolex, dispensed in the community in England against an NHS prescription between January 2018 to September 2024:
Time period | Items |
2018 | 2,591 |
2019 | 2,636 |
2020 | 2,674 |
2021 | 2,973 |
2022 | 4,003 |
2023 | 5,192 |
2024 | 4,326 |
Total | 24,395 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
Note: data for 2024 is from January to September.
Data on unlicensed cannabis-based medicines is withheld in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulations, due to the number of items attributed being to fewer than five patients, and an enhanced risk of the release of patient identifiable information.
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