Medicines
Endocrine System
Corticosteroids (endocrine)
Dexamethasone

Dexamethasone

Name: Dexamethasone NHS prescribing in England
Creator: PharmaInsight
License: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Endocrine System Corticosteroids (endocrine) BNF 0603020G0

Data updated May 2026 Download CSV

Dexamethasone was ranked 413th of 1,796 medicines by items in May 2026, with 17,433 items, down 1.8% on a year earlier.

17,433items -1.8%

Dispensed in May 2026

194,658items

Rolling 12 months

£100,163

Net ingredient cost · May 2026

Figure 1. Dexamethasone: national items dispensed by month

Source: NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis, to May 2026

Embed this chart Download CSV

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.

#use-this-chart [role="tablist"] { display: none !important; } #use-this-chart [data-pane] { display: block !important; }

A live chart that updates itself when next month's data lands. The credit line is part of the snippet.

<iframe src="https://pharmainsight.co.uk/embed/charts/dexamethasone-0603020g0-monthly-items" width="720" height="440" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" title="Dexamethasone: NHS items dispensed in England, by month"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:13px;margin-top:4px">Chart: <a href="https://pharmainsight.co.uk/medicines/dexamethasone-0603020g0">PharmaInsight</a> · Data: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset</p>

Preview the embed

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.

Download SVG

Paste this beneath the chart if you are using the image rather than the embed.

Chart: <a href="https://pharmainsight.co.uk/medicines/dexamethasone-0603020g0">PharmaInsight</a> · Data: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset

Chart licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution link to PharmaInsight required. Underlying data © NHSBSA, Open Government Licence v3.0.

At a glance

Therapeutic class Corticosteroids (endocrine)
Presentations 15 shown
Average cost / item £5.75
Year on year Down 1.8% on a year earlier

What this is

Net ingredient cost is the list price before discounts and dispensing fees, not what the NHS finally pays.

Top presentations, May 2026

The individual products dispensed under Dexamethasone this month.

Presentations of Dexamethasone, May 2026
Presentation	BNF code	Items	Net ingredient cost
Dexamethasone 2mg tablets	0603020G0AAADAD	7,583	£19,812
Dexamethasone 500microgram tablets	0603020G0AAABAB	4,128	£9,150
Dexamethasone 2mg/5ml oral solution sugar free	0603020G0AABXBX	2,647	£19,793
Dexamethasone 2mg soluble tablets sugar free	0603020G0AACFCF	1,284	£24,592
Dexamethasone 1mg tablets	0603020G0AACNCN	971	£3,059
Dexamethasone 4mg tablets	0603020G0AACICI	586	£12,623
Dexamethasone 4mg soluble tablets sugar free	0603020G0AACHCH	91	£2,492
Dexamethasone 10mg/5ml oral solution sugar free	0603020G0AABZBZ	60	£5,919
Dexamethasone 8mg soluble tablets sugar free	0603020G0AACGCG	26	£1,044
Dexsol 2mg/5ml oral solution	0603020G0BEAABX	21	£383
Dexamethasone 2mg/5ml oral liquid	0603020G0AAA6A6	19	£283
Dexamethasone 10mg soluble tablets sugar free	0603020G0AACLCL	8	£46
Dexamethasone 500micrograms/5ml oral liquid	0603020G0AAA7A7	4	£840
Dexamethasone 10mg/5ml oral liquid	0603020G0AABHBH	2	£27
Dexamethasone 5mg/5ml oral liquid	0603020G0AAA5A5	1	£40

Source: NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis · to May 2026 OGL v3.0

Where Dexamethasone is dispensed

The regions and dispensing practices with the highest Dexamethasone volumes.

Top regions

Top dispensing practices

Regional volumes from NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis; practice volumes from NHS dispensing data.

In NHS hospitals

Dexamethasone is also used in NHS secondary care. See the indicative hospital cost, monthly trend and the trusts using it most on the hospital medicines page.

Compare Dexamethasone with

Other medicines in the same BNF section, by prescribing volume.

Dexamethasone vs Prednisolone Dexamethasone vs Fludrocortisone acetate Dexamethasone vs Hydrocortisone Dexamethasone vs Betamethasone sodium phosphate Dexamethasone vs Hydrocortisone sodium succinate

Download this data

The monthly series for Dexamethasone is in this page's CSV. For the ranked national series across every medicine, with the method and caveats documented, see the most-prescribed medicines dataset in our open data catalogue.