The number of antidepressant items prescribed in England rose by 1.6 per cent between October and January, the NHS BSA has revealed. 

In its quarterly update on mental health medicines statistics, the NHS BSA said that in the three months to December 31 the number of prescribed antidepressant items rose by 400,000 to 22,600,000 compared to the previous quarter, while the number of identified patients rose by 0.9 per cent to 6,820,000.

“Antidepressant items and identified patients both continue to trend upwards,” said the NHS BSA, adding that despite these increases the cost of antidepressants to the NHS continues to fall – down by £1.6m to £54.1m in the third quarter of 2023-24 compared to the previous quarter.

The NHS BSA report looks at a range of other mental health drug categories, including hypnotics, psychosis therapies and CNS stimulants, all of which saw increases in the number of patients and prescribed items in the three months to December 31.

The biggest increases were seen in the dementia category, with items rising by 3.1 per cent to 1.1 million and the number of identified patients rising by 2.5 per cent to 260,000. 

The dementia drugs category also saw the largest change in costs, rising by 11 per cent to £7.52m during the third quarter of 2023-24.