March 2026 in numbers
Dispensed in March 2026
NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis
Net ingredient cost, March 2026
NHSBSA PCA
Figure 1. The most-dispensed medicines in England, March 2026
Source: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset
Use this chart on your site
Free to reuse anywhere, including commercially — on your own site, in a report or in an article. Keep the credit link with it and you are done.
A live chart that updates itself when next month's data lands. The credit line is part of the snippet.
An SVG with the title and credit built in. Vector, so it stays sharp at any size in a slide deck or a print layout, and it opens in Illustrator, Figma, Inkscape or any browser.
Paste this beneath the chart if you are using the image rather than the embed.
Chart licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution link to PharmaInsight required. Underlying data © NHSBSA, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Most-dispensed medicines
Download full month (CSV)| Medicine | Items | Net ingredient cost |
|---|---|---|
| Atorvastatin | 6,762,597 | £6,116,097 |
| Amlodipine | 3,557,608 | £3,050,719 |
| Lansoprazole | 3,231,439 | £3,446,295 |
| Ramipril | 3,129,698 | £3,565,334 |
| Levothyroxine sodium | 2,971,450 | £3,511,028 |
| Omeprazole | 2,965,687 | £8,147,871 |
| Bisoprolol fumarate | 2,678,545 | £3,116,025 |
| Colecalciferol | 2,530,117 | £10,896,850 |
| Metformin hydrochloride | 2,331,945 | £5,257,359 |
| Sertraline hydrochloride | 2,236,611 | £3,964,693 |
| Aspirin | 1,717,444 | £4,780,201 |
| Amitriptyline hydrochloride | 1,420,123 | £1,545,559 |
Biggest risers
Largest month-on-month rise in items (medicines above 10,000 items).
| Medicine | Items | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium cromoglicate | 52,929 | +45.2% |
| Olopatadine | 29,997 | +39.9% |
| Fluorouracil (Antimetabolites) | 19,703 | +28.9% |
| Vibegron | 21,936 | +27.6% |
| Fexofenadine hydrochloride | 621,716 | +23.8% |
| Oral rehydration salts | 17,040 | +22.0% |
| Desloratadine | 12,795 | +21.6% |
| Fluticasone propionate/azelastine hydrochloride (Nasal) | 85,118 | +20.8% |
Biggest fallers
Largest month-on-month fall in items.
| Medicine | Items | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Influenza | 149,368 | −33.8% |
| Diphtheria | 29,923 | −12.5% |
| Typhoid | 52,707 | −9.4% |
| Hepatitis A | 47,547 | −6.8% |
| Hypromellose | 28,286 | −5.9% |
| Phenazone/lidocaine | 17,887 | −4.5% |
| Levomepromazine hydrochloride | 11,254 | −2.9% |
| Medroxyprogesterone acetate | 57,953 | −1.2% |
Download this data
Every medicine dispensed in March 2026 is in this month's CSV. For the full monthly history — the national headline series, and the top 500 medicines ranked in every month — see the headline series and most-prescribed medicines datasets in our open data catalogue.