Data tracker, updated 2026-09-29
UK HRT Prescribing Tracker
The NHS in England dispensed 1,307,267 HRT prescription items in July 2026, the most recent month in NHS Business Services Authority data when we last refreshed this page, up 14.0 percent on the same month a year earlier. Over the 12 months to July 2026, 13.65m HRT items were dispensed. This page tracks the official monthly figures.
1.31m
HRT items in July 2026
13.65m
items in the 12 months to July 2026 (+11.7% on the prior 12)
£22.87m
actual cost in July 2026
Source: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset (EPD with SNOMED code), BNF paragraph 6.4.1, accessed 2026-09-29.
Monthly HRT items dispensed in England
The 12 months to July 2026
| Month | HRT items | Actual cost |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 2026 | 1,307,267 | £22,865,785 |
| Jun 2026 | 1,224,730 | £21,392,491 |
| May 2026 | 1,160,921 | £20,349,627 |
| Apr 2026 | 1,148,012 | £19,016,663 |
| Mar 2026 | 1,164,320 | £19,495,246 |
| Feb 2026 | 1,052,193 | £17,679,850 |
| Jan 2026 | 1,129,311 | £18,983,706 |
| Dec 2025 | 1,143,131 | £19,202,238 |
| Nov 2025 | 1,056,136 | £18,065,560 |
| Oct 2025 | 1,132,330 | £19,470,572 |
| Sept 2025 | 1,091,998 | £18,905,112 |
| Aug 2025 | 1,038,169 | £18,129,377 |
Most prescribed HRT substances (July 2026)
| Chemical substance | Items |
|---|---|
| Estradiol | 646,643 |
| Progesterone | 338,192 |
| Estradiol with progestogen | 222,709 |
| Norethisterone | 39,049 |
| Medroxyprogesterone acetate | 24,860 |
| Tibolone | 13,739 |
| Estradiol valerate | 7,189 |
| Oestrogens conjugated | 5,699 |
The annual picture (2024/25)
The monthly chart above counts prescription items. The NHSBSA also publishes an annual HRT report covering things the monthly data cannot show, such as how many separate patients were prescribed HRT and who they were.
Do not add the two sources together or compare them line by line. For the same financial year (April 2024 to March 2025), the monthly series above gives 11.92m items under BNF paragraph 6.4.1, while the annual report below gives 14.7 million. We have not reconciled the difference: the annual report sets its own definition of an HRT item, which can be wider than one BNF paragraph. The monthly series is the one used for the chart and the 12-month totals on this page.
- 14.7 million HRT items prescribed in England in 2024/25.
- 2.8 million patients prescribed HRT, up from 2.6 million in 2023/24.
- Up 11 per cent in HRT items in a single year.
- 21 per cent of HRT items used an HRT Prescription Prepayment Certificate. See what the certificate actually saves.
- 50 to 54 is the most common age group prescribed HRT.
- Roughly twice as many patients are on HRT in the least deprived areas as in the most deprived.
Source: NHSBSA, Hormone Replacement Therapy, England, 2024/25. Open Government Licence v3.0. England only; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish separately.
How we compiled this data
Every figure on this page is computed from the NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset, the official monthly record of what NHS primary care in England prescribes and dispenses, accessed through the OpenPrescribing.net API or the NHSBSA Open Data Portal. We sum prescription items and actual cost for every product under BNF paragraph 6.4.1 (female sex hormones and their modulators), the standard proxy for HRT prescribing. "Items" counts prescriptions dispensed, not the number of women on HRT; one woman typically receives several items a year. NHSBSA retired the original version of the dataset after June 2025, so months from July 2025 come from its successor, the English Prescribing Dataset with SNOMED codes; where we cross-checked months held in both versions, the HRT totals matched exactly. Figures cover England only. NHSBSA publishes about two months in arrears, and we refresh this page by hand rather than automatically, so it can lag the newest NHSBSA release. Last refreshed 2026-09-29; the most recent month in this refresh is July 2026.
Information only, not medical advice. This page reports published NHS data. It is educational and is not a substitute for a registered clinician. It does not diagnose anything and does not recommend any treatment. Whether HRT is suitable for you, and which preparation, is a decision for you and your prescriber. The NHS menopause pages explain the options.
Read more
For what the evidence says about supplements through this life stage, see our menopause guide, the perimenopause guide and supplements for menopause. Verified UK figures are gathered on our statistics page, and our tools hub has cost calculators for the supplements we review.
Frequently asked questions
How many HRT prescriptions does the NHS issue each month?
In July 2026, the most recent month in the NHSBSA data when this page was last refreshed (2026-09-29), 1,307,267 HRT prescription items (BNF paragraph 6.4.1, female sex hormones and their modulators) were dispensed in England, at an actual cost of about £22.87m. Source: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset.
Is HRT prescribing going up in the UK?
Yes. July 2026 items were up 14.0 percent on the same month a year earlier, and monthly volumes have risen from 0.73m in July 2022 to 1.31m in July 2026. These figures cover England only; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish separately.
Which HRT is most prescribed?
By chemical substance, the most dispensed in July 2026 were Estradiol, Progesterone, Estradiol with progestogen. Estradiol-based products dominate modern NHS prescribing. Which preparation suits an individual woman is a decision for her prescriber.
Where does this data come from?
From the NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset, counting BNF paragraph 6.4.1 items. NHSBSA retired the original version after June 2025, so later months come from its successor with SNOMED codes. We refresh this page by hand, so it can lag the newest NHSBSA release; the method section above has the detail.
Cite this tracker
To reference these figures, please credit Her Vitals and link to this page:
Source: Her Vitals, NHS England HRT Prescribing Tracker, https://hervitals.co.uk/tools/hrt-prescribing-tracker/ (accessed 2026-09-29). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21350382
An earlier snapshot of this dataset (July 2022 to June 2025) is archived with a permanent DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21350382. Download the underlying data: NHS England HRT prescribing, monthly items and cost (CSV).
Source: NHSBSA English Prescribing Dataset (Open Government Licence v3.0), via OpenPrescribing.net / NHSBSA Open Data Portal, accessed 2026-09-29. This is information, not medical advice.
Editor, Her Vitals
Oliver leads Her Vitals's editorial coverage of women's life-stage health and supplements. He curates and reviews existing branded products across trying to conceive, pregnancy, postnatal, perimenopause, menopause and the senior years, weighing what the evidence supports against guidance from bodies such as EFSA, the NHS and NICE, and is clear that the content is information rather than medical advice.
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