The Scottish government has hailed a reduced rate of dispensing volume growth as proof that it was right to scrap prescription fees.

Figures from NHS Scotland's Information Services Division showed the total number of items dispensed in the community increased by 1.6 per cent over the last year – from 97.7 million in 2012-13 to 99.2m in 2013-14. This was a drop from an average annual growth rate of around 3.3 per cent for the previous six years, the Scottish government said on Friday (August 8).

Scottish minister for public health Michael Matheson said the data added to the "growing evidence" that medicines were only being prescribed when needed, despite prescription charges being abolished in 2011.

"It is simply not the case that free prescriptions have led to a free-for-all or caused a hike in prescribing, as opponents of policy would claim. Prescribers are continuing to prescribe as clinically and cost-effectively as possible, ensuring the benefits are felt by people who truly need them, particularly those with long-term conditions," he said.

It was the second year of slowed growth for dispensed items in Scotland, with the rate of increase dropping from 3.8 per cent in 2010-11 and 2011-12 to 2.4 per cent the following year, ISD figures showed.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) – which has campaigned to end fees for patients in England with long-term conditions as part of the Prescription Charges Coalition – agreed the latest Scottish figures supported the view that free prescriptions did not lead to increase dispensing volume.

"The fact that there's been a decline challenges the argument there would be a free-for-all if charges were lifted.  The real beneficiaries would be people with long-term conditions who would then face no barrier to their life-saving medicines," RPS spokesperson David Branford told C+D.

The most recent figures for England showed the annual number of prescription items dispensed in the community rose 3 per cent to 1.03 billion in 2013, driven by increases in statins, antidepressants and diabetes drugs.

In March, the Prescription Charges Coalition launched an online petition calling on the government to end fees for people with long-term conditions, following fresh evidence that cost was preventing patients from taking their medication.

Last year, the Scottish government claimed that an increase in dispensed items for asthma and Crohn's disease proved that patients with long-term conditions were better off since prescription fees were scrapped. 

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