England 2015/16 to 2024/25

Published 24 July 2025

Changes to these statistics

For this release, we have added maps to present the data on the number of identified patients per 1,000 population by Integrated Care Board (ICB).

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Key findings

In England in 2024/25:

92.6 million antidepressant items were prescribed to an estimated 8.89 million identified patients.

Items and identified patients both increased in 4 out of the 5 drug groups.

4 out of the 5 drug groups had higher prescribing in the most deprived areas in England.

Antidepressant drugs were the BNF section with the largest number of items prescribed. This was an increase of 3.94% since 2023/24. It also had the largest number of identified patients, an increase of 1.61% compared to 2023/24.

Prescribing of CNS stimulants and drugs for ADHD increased for both adults and children since 2023/24. The number of adults rose by 24.3% to 190,000 identified patients, while children rose by 9.48% to 135,000 identified patients.

Items in the drugs for dementia section increased by 6.96% to 4.79 million from 2023/24 and identified patients increased by 5.36% to 326,000. It remained the only BNF section where prescribing was higher in the least deprived areas.

1. Things you should know

1.1. Scope

Background

The 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future outlines mental health as an early priority.

The Core20PLUS5 approach to reduce health inequalities also seeks to improve community care for those with severe mental illnesses.

This publication provides information on medicines used to treat mental health in England. It covers medicines prescribed in England that are then dispensed in the community in England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. The publication does not include data on medicines used in hospitals, prisons or prescribed by private doctors.

The five sections of the British National Formulary (BNF) included in this publication cover medicines which are primarily used to treat anxiety, depression, psychosis, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and dementia. We do not capture the clinical indication of a prescription, so there may be instances where these drugs are used for other conditions.

This publication does not discuss the demographic data associated with the provision of these medicines, but this information is available in the supporting summary tables which accompany this release.

Medicines are not the only way to treat mental health conditions, and this publication does not capture information on the use of other mental health services, such as psychological therapies. Therefore, this publication may not give a complete picture of the number of people receiving treatment for mental health conditions. Information on where to find related statistics can be found in Section 4.

1.2. Definitions

Item

A single unit of medication listed separately on a prescription form. For example in this publication, an item might be listed as Fluoxetine 20mg tables x56, distinct from other medications that may be prescribed on the same form.

Patient

A unique NHS number captured from a prescription form or electronic prescription service (EPS) message.

Classification

This publication uses the British National Formulary (BNF), which lists medicines used in the UK and classifies them according to their primary therapeutic use. Medication may also be prescribed for medical conditions other than their primary use. For example, certain antidepressants may be recommended to individuals experiencing chronic pain. The NHSBSA does not capture the clinical indication of a prescription during processing.

1.3. Time periods

The data in this publication covers the period from April 2015 to March 2025. Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 refer to different 3-month financial quarters within the financial year. For example, financial year 2024/25 covers April 2024 to March 2025. Q1 is quarter 1 of 2024/25 and covers April to June 2024, while Q4 is quarter 4 and covers January to March 2025.

These statistics cover the period of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A detailed timeline of events and restrictions in the UK during this time can be found on the UK parliament website. The impact of COVID-19 should be considered when comparing across time periods.

1.4. Patient identification

When the NHSBSA processes prescriptions it is not always possible to capture the NHS number of the patient. Table 1 shows the proportion of items for which a patient could be identified. This means that the data relating to patient counts represents most, but not all, patients. Patient identification rates going back to Q1 2015/16 can be found in the individual summary tables for each BNF section.

Due to an increase in digital prescription processing through the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) during the COVID-19 pandemic, more patients were identified from 2020/21 onwards compared to previous years. When patient identification rates increase, any increases in the number of identified patients between periods are likely to be an overestimate of the actual increase in patient numbers. This is because the proportion of patients who could be identified has increased. Conversely, any decrease over the same period is likely to be an underestimate of the actual decrease.

Gender information is not available from Patient Demographic Service (PDS) for a small number of patients in each year. This may be because it was not disclosed by the patient or not recorded by the organisation that collected the data.

These statistics do not include any information that is personally identifiable. You can find more information about how the NHSBSA protect personal information in the confidentiality and access statement.

Proportion of items in England for which an NHS number was recorded for listed BNF sections 2020/21 to 2024/25

Table 1: Patient identification rates generally increased over time, but some BNF sections decreased or were unchanged in 2024/25

Source: Financial year statistical summary tables - patient identification rates

2. Results

A summary exploring the volumes and costs for each BNF section in this publication is available, along with a summary exploring the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of these medicines:

More information about these medicines can be found in section 3 of this summary.

3. Background

This publication provides information on medicines used to treat mental health conditions in England. It covers medicines prescribed in England that are then dispensed in the community in England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands by a pharmacy, appliance contractor, dispensing doctor, or have been personally administered by a GP practice. The publication does not include data on medicines used in hospitals, prisons or prescribed by private doctors.

3.1. Antidepressant drugs

Antidepressant drugs are licensed to treat major depression. Health professionals use the words depression, depressive illness or clinical depression to refer to depression. It is a serious illness and very different from the common experience of feeling unhappy or fed up for a short period of time. Depressed people may have feelings of extreme sadness that can last for a long time. These feelings are severe enough to interfere with daily life, and can last for weeks, months or years, rather than days.

It should be noted that antidepressant drugs are used for indications other than depression, for example migraine, chronic pain, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), or a range of other conditions. Clinical indication isn’t captured by the NHSBSA. Therefore, the statistics on these drugs do not relate solely to prescribing for depression.

You can find more information about depression on the NHS website.

3.2. Hypnotics and anxiolytics

Hypnotics and anxiolytics are used to treat insomnia and anxiety respectively.

Insomnia is difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep for long enough to feel refreshed in the morning, despite there being enough opportunity to sleep. Difficulty falling asleep is the most common problem with insomnia and is also known as sleep-onset insomnia. An insomniac may also experience:

  • waking in the night
  • not feeling refreshed after sleep and not being able to function normally during the day
  • feeling irritable and tired and finding it difficult to concentrate
  • waking when they have been disturbed from sleep by pain or noise
  • waking early in the morning

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, which can be mild or severe. Everyone experiences feelings of anxiety at some point in their life and feeling anxious is sometimes perfectly normal. However, people with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) find it hard to control their worries. Their feelings of anxiety are more constant and often affect their daily life. There are several conditions for which anxiety is the main symptom. Panic disorder, phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder can all cause severe anxiety.

You can find more information about insomnia and anxiety from the NHS website.

3.4. Central nervous system (CNS) stimulants and drugs used for ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD) refer to a range of problem behaviours associated with poor attention span. These may include impulsiveness and hyperactivity, as well as inattentiveness; behaviours that often prevent children and adults from learning and socialising. ADHD is sometimes referred to as hyperkinetic disorder (HD).

You can find more information about ADHD on the NHS website.

3.5. Drugs for dementia

Dementia is a disease that leads to progressive loss of brain function typified by memory loss, confusion, speech difficulties and problems in understanding. There are over 100 different types of dementia. The most common forms are:

  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Vascular dementia
  • Dementia with Lewy bodies
  • Pick’s disease
  • Huntington’s disease
  • Alcohol-related dementia
  • HIV/AIDS related dementia

Dementia mainly affects older people but can also occur in people as young as 30 due to either alcohol abuse or HIV/AIDS. No cure for dementia currently exists. However, drugs may slow the rate of decline or in some patients make a small improvement in symptoms. Despite this, disease progression is inevitable.

You can find more information about the various types of dementia on the NHS website.

4. About these statistics

This publication is part of a series by the NHSBSA, which can be found on our Medicines Used in Mental Health webpage. Medicines Used in Mental Health is released quarterly and annually. To learn more about how this series compares to our other publications, you can view the Official Statistics guidance table on our statistical collections page.

Further information on the methodology used in this publication and further background information is available in our Background Information and Methodology supporting document.

4.1. Planned changes to this publication

This is an official statistic release. We will regularly be reviewing the methodology used within the statistics.

4.2. Patient counts

The patient counts shown in these statistics should only be analysed at the level at which they are presented. Adding together any patient counts is likely to result in an overestimate of the number of patients. A patient will be included, or counted, in each category or time period in which they received relevant prescriptions. For example, if a patient received a prescription item for an antidepressant drug in Q1 2020/21 and another in Q2 2020/21, then adding together those totals would count that patient twice. For the same reason, data on patient counts for different BNF sections should not be added together.

4.3. Index of deprivation (IMD)

The English Indices of Deprivation 2019 have been used to provide a measure of patient deprivation. The English Indices of Deprivation are an official national measure of deprivation that follows an established methodological framework to capture a wide range of individuals living conditions.

IMD deciles are calculated by ranking census lower-layer super output areas (LSOAs) from most deprived to least deprived and dividing them into 10 equal groups. These range from the most deprived 10% (decile 1) of small areas nationally to the least deprived 10% (decile 10) of small areas nationally. We have aggregated these deciles into quintiles in this publication, for use alongside the NHS Core20PLUS5 approach.

The reported IMD quintile is derived from the postcode of the patient an item has been prescribed to. When a patient postcode is unknown but we hold a postcode for the prescribing practice, this will be used instead. Quintile 1 represents the 20% most deprived areas and quintile 5 is the 20% least deprived areas. There are a small number of items each year that we have reported as having an unknown IMD quintile. These are items where we have been unable to match the patient postcode or practice postcode to a postcode in the NSPL August 2024 edition.

4.4. Geographies included in this publication

The patient deprivation measures in these statistics are based on the patient’s postcode. Each postcode is linked to a LSOA using the August 2024 National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSPL) file for 2011 census LSOAs. This allows deprivation to be measured using standard geographical boundaries.

Unlike LSOAs, the higher-level geographies shown in the statistical summary tables, such as Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), are based on NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) administrative records rather than geographical boundaries. This approach better reflects how GP practices are organised and managed in practice, rather than strictly following geographical definitions.

4.5. Statistical Disclosure Control (SDC)

Statistical disclosure control has been applied to these statistics. Patient count, items, and net ingredient cost (NIC) have been redacted in the supporting summary tables if they relate to fewer than 5 patients. Further information about our statistical disclosure control protocol can be found on our website.

4.6. Rounding

The high-level figures in this statistical summary have been rounded where appropriate for clarity. In most cases rounding has been to three significant figures. This is to make this narrative as accessible as possible to all readers. The summary tables released with this publication allow users to investigate this data at lower levels of granularity. Figures in the supplementary tables have not been rounded.

4.8. Averages

Where this document refers to ‘average’, this is the mean unless otherwise stated. This is calculated by adding the number of items/patients/months together and dividing this by the number of items/patients/months.

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