Vitamin B complex per 1000 patients by all CCGs
Why it matters: One of the most common reasons why vitamin B has been prescribed is to prevent Wernicke's encephalopathy in chronic alcohol disorders. A recent position statment from the Regional Medicines Optimisation Committee (RMOC) states that:
- Due to a lack of evidence on their efficacy and safety, vitamin B complex preparations (vitamin B compound and vitamin B compound strong tablets) should not be prescribed for prevention of Wernicke’s Encephalopathy (WE) in alcoholism
- Vitamin B complex preparations should not be prescribed for preventing deficiency or for maintenance treatment following treatment for deficiency.
- Vitamin B complex preparations should not be prescribed as dietary supplements. Patients who wish to use them for dietary supplementation should be advised to purchase them over the counter.
- Vitamin B compound strong tablets may be prescribed on a short-term basis (10 days) for patients at risk of refeeding syndrome. This also applies to patients who are not harmful or dependent drinkers.
- In rare cases where there might be a justifiable reason for prescribing vitamin B complex e.g. medically diagnosed deficiency or chronic malabsorption, vitamin B compound strong and not vitamin B compound should be prescribed as it represents better value for money.
The RMOC advice is to review all existing patients prescribed vitamin B complex preparations with a view to stopping treatment in all but exceptional circumstances, such as in those patients with a medically diagnosed deficiency due to lifelong or chronic condition, or following surgery that results in malabsorption.
Description: Prescribing of vitamin B complex (normal and strong tablets) per 1000 registered patients
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Tagged as: Standard, Efficacy, NICE (or browse all measures)
CCGs are ordered by mean percentile over the past six months. Each chart shows the results for the individual CCG, plus deciles across all CCGs in the NHS in England.
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