It’s the seaside resort famous for its illuminations, tower, donkey rides and Pleasure Beach amusement park. But now Blackpool has been named the nation’s “misery capital”, where the most is spent on painkillers and mood-changing antidepressants. NHS figures show the North West had the most people suffering from pain and mental anguish in England.
And with £11.62 per patient spent on painkillers and £5.22 on antidepressants, the £16.84 total sees Blackpool top the list. Next is near neighbour Fylde and Wyre, where the NHS spend per patient is £16.50, followed by St Helens, Merseyside, with £16.35 per patient.
Out of 106 health areas, called Clinical Commissioning Groups, across the country the highest 10 spending areas were all in the north, with six in the North West. In fourth was Knowsley, Merseyside at £16.05, in fifth Cannock Chase, Staffordshire at £15.98, and sixth was Halton, Cheshire, at £15.90.
North Staffordshire, at £15.80; Lincolnshire with £15.64; South Sefton, Merseyside, £15.59; and North Lincolnshire, £14.87, complete the top 10. The figures for 2023-24 show GPs in England wrote out 60 million painkiller prescriptions, costing the NHS £432million.
A further and 88.5 million antidepressant prescriptions were handed out at a cost of £230million. In Blackpool, one-in-five patients was prescribed painkillers or antidepressants, with many on both. In total it spent £929,000 on antidepressants and £2.1million on painkillers for the area’s 178,000 patients.
By contrast, the capital’s health authorities spent the least amount. North-west London health area, which includes affluent Kensington, Fulham and Westminster, spent just £2.95 per patient on painkillers and £1.67 per patient on antidepressants.
Andrew White, chief pharmacist for Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said: “The underlying issues of deprivation, opportunities and inequalities that people in and around Blackpool face are stark, and our general practice teams, as well as the wider council, leisure and voluntary communities are taking a joined-up approach to addressing these issues.”
