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The NHS spend on liquid paracetamol products for care home patients aged 65 and above has risen more than threefold since 2021, new analysis shows.

NHS Business Services Authority data published yesterday (June 10) reveals that £16.1m was spent on prescribing liquid paracetamol for these patients in 2024-25, up from £4.7m in 2020-21.

The NHSBSA cited several factors contributing to the higher spend, including an increase of 4,600 patients being prescribed these products and the average daily dose rising from 3.5g to 4.9g over the five-day period.

In addition, the daily cost of common liquid paracetamol products nearly doubled over the same period, rising from £1.08 for the maximum 4mg daily dose in April 2020 to £2.15 in March 2025.

The NHSBSA said: “The analysis concludes that even small changes in liquid paracetamol prescribing can have a noticeable impact on overall paracetamol prescribing costs in care homes.

“The total drug cost for paracetamol for care home patients has doubled in the last five years to an estimated £22.4 million, whereas costs have reduced for non-care home patients.”

The findings come in a new report on prescribing patterns among care home patients, which also reveals that the number of patients aged 65 and over receiving prescriptions each month rose from 289,000 in 2020-21 to 331,000 in 2024-25.

Annual prescription spend on this group rose from £324m to £410m over the same period.