PRESCRIPTIONS for the drug used to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are higher in Wirral than anywhere else in the country for the second year running.

The number of prescriptions written for the drug Ritalin varies hugely across England, according to figures reported in the Health Service Journal (HSJ).

And there is a dispute about whether the medicine works in the long-term.

The HSJ used official figures on the prescribing rates of different primary care trusts (PCTs)and figures from the Office for National Statistics, to work out the number of prescriptions per 1,000 children in each PCT area.

Wirral PCT had the highest figure, with 144 prescriptions for every 1,000 children in 2007.

But according to Wirral PCT about 800 children under 16 were prescribed the drug, out of a population of 60,680 under 16s registered with Wirral GPs.

This would mean around one in 76 children in the borough are Ritalin patients.

A study obtained by the BBC’s Panorama programme last year said Ritalin worked no better than therapy after three years of treatment, and the benefits of drugs had previously been exaggerated.

The Department of Health said the figures could be subject to sampling errors. For example some PCTs may prescribe weekly while others do so monthly.

A spokesman said: “It is important to note that these figures are dispensing levels, and not the number of children taking the drug. For example, the figures could include repeat prescriptions for the same child.”

Wirral PCT said the figure for Wirral was 8,654 prescriptions a year which equates to approximately 800 patients in a registered population of around 335,000 people.