The number of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) items prescribed in England reached 17 million in 2025-26, up by 1.8 million on the previous year, according to new figures from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA).

The data, reported on 12 November 2026, shows 17 million HRT items were prescribed in 2025-26, compared with 15 million in 2024-25. The number of patients prescribed HRT also rose, from 2.8 million to 3.1 million over the same period.

Prescribing keeps climbing

The rise continued into the summer. Between April and June 2026, 4.5 million HRT items were prescribed, a 16 per cent increase on the 3.9 million items prescribed in the same period last year.

In June 2026 alone, 1.6 million items were prescribed to about 1.1 million patients, a 19 per cent increase on the 1.3 million items prescribed in June 2025.

The figures come from the NHSBSA's annual Prescription Cost Analysis for 2025-26, which records the cost and volume of prescription items dispensed in the community in England. The analysis is one of the authority's routine annual releases, and the HRT figures are drawn from the same dataset that tracks every other medicine prescribed on the NHS in England.

The single most-prescribed presentation was micronised progesterone 100mg capsules, with two million items dispensed in 2025-26.

Access gap between richer and poorer areas

The figures also show a sharp gap in who receives HRT. More than twice as many patients received HRT prescribing in the least deprived areas of England as in the most deprived areas in 2025-26.

That pattern matches earlier NHSBSA findings. In August 2026 the authority reported that a record two million women aged 40 and over received NHS HRT prescribing in 2025-26, more than double the 800,000 who received it in 2020-21, with prescribing rates ranging from four per 100 women aged 40 and over in Newham to 23 per 100 in Brighton and Hove.

More patients use the HRT prescription certificate

More patients are also using the HRT prescription prepayment certificate (PPC), which allows patients to make a one-off payment of £19.80 to cover NHS prescription charges for an unlimited number of HRT medicines for 12 months.

The certificate was used for 23 per cent of HRT items in 2025-26, up from 21 per cent in 2024-25.

HRT replaces hormones that fall during perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause, and is used to relieve symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats. Anyone considering HRT should speak to their GP or pharmacist, as the treatment is not suitable for everyone.

Source: Pharmacy Magazine, reporting NHS Business Services Authority data; see also the NHSBSA figures reported by Medscape.