Work in progress - Prescribing in Northern Ireland

Spending on medicines is one of the largest costs within Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care system, amounting to around £875 million in 2023–24. Work has now commenced on this study.

Our review will look at how prescribing in primary care has changed since 2014 and whether current efforts to manage costs and improve the use of medicines are working effectively. It will examine key initiatives such as medicines optimisation programmes and the role of pharmacists in GP practices, as well as how prescribing decisions are influenced across the system.

Early findings suggest that, although progress has been made in controlling costs in primary care, it is becoming harder to achieve further savings. At the same time, rising costs in hospitals and gaps in data make it difficult to fully understand and manage overall spending. There is also limited information on medicines waste. Taken together, these issues suggest that more coordinated and better‑informed action may be needed to improve value for money.

We aim to publish the report early in 2027.