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The number of patients prescribed dependency-forming medicines in England has decreased by 1.1 million since 2016/2017, according to figures published by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA).
The NHSBSA’s annual report on dependency-forming medicines in England, published on 31 July 2025, shows a 14% decrease in the number of patients prescribed dependency-forming medicines over the past eight years, from 8.1 million patients in 2016/2017 to 7 million patients in 2024/2025.
Dependency-forming medicines covered in the report include gabapentinoids, opioids, benzodiazepines and Z-drugs.
In 2024/2025, 100,000 fewer people were prescribed dependency-forming medicines compared with 2023/2024, the data revealed. However, prescriptions in the most deprived areas of England remain relatively higher.
The report reveals that there were 57% more identified patients receiving these medications in the most deprived areas in 2024/2025 compared with the least deprived areas.
This proportion has not changed since 2023/2024, while in 2022/2023, this figure was 56%.
In 2024/2025, 1.8 million patients were prescribed dependency-forming drugs in the most deprived areas, compared with 1.1 million patients in the least deprived areas, according to the data.
The report also revealed a decline in the cost of dependency-forming medicines.
Over the past decade, there has been a 53% decrease in spending on these drugs, from £780m in 2015/2016 to £366m in 2024/2025.
The latest figures also show a 2% reduction in spending in 2024/2025 compared with the previous year.
The report attributes much of this reduction to a 79% decline in the cost of gabapentinoid prescribing since 2015/2016, adding that this decline in cost is because pregabalin went off-patent between 2016/2017 and 2018/2019, meaning that cheaper generic equivalents could be prescribed.
There has also been a 36% decrease in the total cost of opioid drugs since 2015/2016.
In 2024/2025, opioid drugs were the most prescribed dependency-forming medicines, with 39 million items prescribed, the report added.
Cathy Stannard, clinical lead for pain transformation at NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, said: “Opioid medicines are by far the most prescribed category of dependence-forming medicines. It’s likely that these are predominantly prescribed for long-term pain.
“There is good evidence that opioids and other medicines prescribed for pain are unlikely to be helpful and efforts continue to encourage more comprehensive assessment of pain and a move away from prescribing. However, time is a scarce resource amongst prescribers, and professionals describe difficulties in making time to build the necessary relations with people with pain that underpin a more holistic approach.”
“The starkest finding from these data is the relationship between prescribing and indices of deprivation. The conditions for which dependence-forming medicines are prescribed are influenced by complex contextual factors and pain is a prominent example: social disadvantage is a potent determinant of the experience of pain,” she added.
“People living in poverty are more likely to experience other health-related problems and have poorer health outcomes, which not only feed into the experience of pain but make assessment more challenging. Recognition of these influences on pain and its treatment have encouraged new ways of supporting people living with pain. A relentless focus on inequality should underpin these initiatives.”
