Summary

The bulletin details expenditure on drugs in hospitals in England setting it in the context of overall drug expenditure. There is also a table focussing on drugs positively appraised by NICE and comparing use of "low cost" drugs between SHAs.

Key facts

• The overall NHS expenditure on medicines in 2008 was £11.6 billion.
• In 2008 hospital use accounted for 28.7 per cent of the total cost, up from 25.8 per cent in 2007.
• The cost of medicines rose by 3.4 per cent overall but by 15.2 per cent in hospitals
• Of the drugs positively appraised by NICE, the greatest overall cost was for atorvastatin but etanercept incurred the greatest cost in hospitals.