Fast facts about self care

self care

Some fast facts to give you an overview of self care and the self-medication industry:

  • The current value of the UK over-the-counter (OTC) market is £2.3 billion.

  • In 2007, people bought over 976 million packs1 of OTC medicines to treat themselves, compared with 873 million prescriptions2.
  • Nine out of ten common illnesses are treated by people themselves.
  • People find OTC medicines effective and prove it by buying the same products time and again.
  • The NHS would not be able to cope if all these people turned instead to their GP.
  • 57 million GP consultations a year (200,000 consultations per day) involve minor ailment discussion, 90% of which (51.4 million) are for minor ailments alone, equating to over an hour a day for every GP3.

  • 20% of the annual 290 million total GP consultations4 involve minor ailments and 18% of total GP consultations are for minor ailments only5.

  • 91% of minor ailment consultations result in a prescription being issued (52 million prescriptions per annum) at a cost of £370 million6.

  • £2 billion of NHS resource is allocated to minor ailment consultations (consultation & prescription costs7), 90% of which (£1.8 billion) are for minor ailment only consultations8.

  • Over 75% of the cost for minor ailment consultations is attributable to the GP's time, equating to £1.5 billion9.

  • The top 10 minor ailments are responsible for 75% of consultation costs and 85% of prescription costs, amounting to £1.62 billion10.
  • We are not a pill for every ill society.  The total OTC market is growing less than inflation. 
  • OTC medicines offer value for money, the average cost is £3.50.  Households spend less than £3 a week on medicines and health products compared with nearly £80 a week on leisure activities.
  • The ingredients in OTC medicines are well established with well known safety profiles. They have often been on the market for as long as 60-100 years.   OTC medicines are regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to be used responsibly for self care and self-medication.

References
1. IRI
2. IMS Xponent, dispensed prescriptions 2007
3,5,6,8,9,10. IMS Health
4. Information for Health and Social Services, 2006/7
7. Consultation costs based on PSSRU 2006 £2.50 per minute and average length of consultation is 11.7 minutes from the Information Centre for Health and Social Services 2006/7, resulting in £29.25. Prescription costs based on £370m from the MIMS proce index.