Another key finding was the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) drugs and treatments with technological appraisals (TA) dispensed in the community had cost about £3 million.
Prescribing advisor Geraldine O’Riordan said: “A combined £385,000 was saved through targeted deprescribing and the savings via rebates.
“This meant that the cost of new NICE TA drugs to HSC was reduced by £2 million in 2024.”
The report found rebates and discounts worth £976,000 had been recovered on community dispensing of high-cost drugs and additional discounts had reduced hospital dispensing costs by 40%.
“Public engagement in reducing waste by crossing off 139,859 unwanted items on prescription forms saved a further significant sum,” Ms O’Riordan added.