GPs defy NHS to prescribe over-the-counter products

Baby formula and shampoo authorised for struggling patients.

- ROSIE TAYLOR

Doctors are increasingly defying NHS rules to prescribe over-the-counter items like baby formula, shampoo, toothpaste and multivitamins for patients struggling to afford basic goods.

Prescriptions issued by GPs in England for these everyday products have soared by up to 80 per cent in two years, analysis of official NHS data by The Independent reveals. This is a reversal of a trend that had seen levels gradually declining since 2018, when GPs were warned not to “waste” NHS resources on everyday items sold in high street stores and supermarkets.

Now, GPs say they are having to act to protect their “most vulnerable” patients from the impact of the cost of living crisis.

Although official NHS guidance clearly states over-the-counter products like standard multivitamin tablets, non-medicated antidandruff shampoo and regular infant formula should not be prescribed, doctors can use their discretion to overrule this when they think it is necessary.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said that GPs would not prescribe items without “a good reason” and that doctors took into account all aspects of a patient’s health, including “physical, psychological and social factors”.

Between 2021/22 and 2023/24, there was a 16 per cent rise in GP prescriptions for everyday adult multivitamin tablets from over-the-counter brands, including Boots, Superdrug and Tesco. The number of prescriptions issued rose from around 151,600 in 2021/22 to 175,000 in 2023/24.

The figures are only for standard multivitamins which can be bought in stores and do not include special formulations for children or people with specific medical conditions, like renal failure.