Statin prescriptions 2012 to 2015 (FOI)

​​Request

Could you please tell me how many people have been prescribed statins since 2012.

A.

Could you please breakdown the figures per year for 2012, 2013 and 2014.

B.

Could you please also give me the figures to date (or as up to date as possible) for the number prescribed for 2015.

C.

If possible can you give the people’s ages?

D.

Could you also give the reason why they were prescribed.

Response

This request has been answered by the Health and Social Services department and Social Security department.

Health and Social Services can confirm that it holds data on the number of outpatients who had prescriptions for statins dispensed at the hospital pharmacy. The majority of these patients will also have obtained prescriptions from their GP so will be included in the estimates provided by the Social Security department below. Data on Inpatients prescribed statins is not held as statins are kept as stock items on wards.

Total number of patients dispensed at least one outpatient prescription for a statin:

The Social Security department does not hold specific information about the numbers or details of people who have been prescribed a specific drug type, such as statins. 

The department does hold data on the volumes of drugs dispensed from pharmacies each year from which an estimate as to the number of people who might receive statins may be made. Based on prescribing rates over the past five years the below table shows an estimate of the number of patients receiving a statin each year.

Exemption(s)

Exemptions and/or refusals applied to this request:

The information needed to answer parts (C) and (D) would require the Health and Social Services department to interrogate individual patient records. The cost in staff time to analyse patient records would be in excess of £500.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Your request, therefore, will not be processed further.

The Social Security department does not hold information needed to answer parts (C) and (D).