2/6. Prescription Drugs. The NHS spends around
L150 per person per year on medicines, dispensing 750 million prescriptions -that's roughly one prescription per month for every person in the country. GPs are under increasing pressure to cut back on the number of drugs they prescribe and use the cheapest alternative wherever possible. Dr Mark Porter finds out if this means patients are getting second-rate treatments or if the NHS is putting one over on the pharmaceutical industry.
Producer Helen Sharp Repeated tomorrow at 4.30pm