CHRISTCHURCH is the sickliest place in Dorset, according to official statistics.

Last year the town’s residents spent an average of £182 on prescription medication compared to £135 in Bournemouth and £143 in Poole.

The data released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre ranked Christchurch as having the 59th highest proportion of prescriptions in the country out of the 532 constituencies in England examined.

This saw 911 lots of diabetes medication ordered for every 1,000 people registered with a GP. The figures include repeat prescriptions.

It also had the county’s highest level of medication dispensed for thyroid conditions, hypertension, bone problems, urinary disorders, anaemia, gout and chronic bowel disorders.

Christchurch residents were prescribed vitamins twice as many times as those in Poole.

Drugs handed out to treat cardiovascular problems in Christchurch were the highest in Dorset too, with prescriptions for diuretics and beta-blockers doled out at a rate of around 50 per cent higher than the national average.

Only in South Dorset, which encompasses Swanage, were more antidepressants prescribed than in Christchurch. Mid Dorset and North Poole residents used antidepressants the least – with 917 prescriptions per 1,000 compared to the national average of 996, South Dorset’s 1,205 and the 1,197 in Christchurch. In Bournemouth East the figure was 1,008, in Bournemouth West it was 995 and in Poole it was 985.

Bournemouth East had the lowest total number of items prescribed in 2014 with 15 written per head compared to 24 in Christchurch. This was despite 102 prescriptions for substance dependence being written per 1,000 people – almost 10 times more than in Mid Dorset and North Poole, where there were 11 per 1,000. The figure was 15 in Bournemouth West, 13 in Christchurch, 18 in Poole and 91 in South Dorset. The national average was 74.

Across the country 1.1 billion prescriptions were dispensed, an increase of three per cent or 34 million items, on 2013.