The number of prescriptions issued rose by 3.3% to 1.6million.

The costs of running the pharmacy service, including fees and minus prescription charges paid by patients, amounted to £21.15 million. That was up 19.6% on 2020 when the service cost £15.51million.

Pictured: The number of prescriptions issued has increased since 2019.

The Prescribing Support Unit (PSU) works with healthcare colleagues across the island's primary and secondary care sector. It is intended to provide cost-effective prescribing, while monitoring trends in prescribing, and any likely reasons for those trends.

The 2021 report shows that a number of unwanted prescriptions were 'crossed off' across Guernsey and Alderney. By removing those 100,000 items from the prescribed medications there was a saving to the Bailiwick of around half a million pounds in medicine costs and fees.

HSC said it is "hugely grateful to islanders, all the islands’ doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and their teams for all of their support" during this work and during the past often difficult years.

Pictured: The number of prescriptions issued was up last year, but around 100,000 prescriptions were 'crossed off' because they were 'unwanted'.

Geraldine O’Riordan, Prescribing Adviser said:

“Both the number of prescriptions and the cost of the pharmacy service increased in 2021 compared to 2020, and by significantly more than in previous years. In 2021 the number of prescriptions issued rose by 3.3% to 1.6 million. The cost of the pharmacy service, including fees and minus prescription charges paid by islanders came to £21.15 million, up 19.6% on 2020.

"The Bailiwick secures medicines for islanders often at heavily discounted NHS prices via a complex combination of rebates on drugs dispensed by retail pharmacies and discounts for hospital products.

"The increase in cost in 2021 was due to a combination of increased prescribing, new medical devices and medicines approved as “business as usual” and new NICE TAs approved in accordance with the resolutions made by the States of Deliberation in 2020. A full report on the NICE TA project is being planned at the moment and will be published in 2023."