Calpol accounted for 12,605 at a cost of £84,997, while Benadryl made up 97,629 prescriptions at a £1.55 million spend.

Cough medicines including Benylin, Buttercup, Boots own brand and Covonia were also available on prescription.

Millions of pounds worth of mouthwash was prescribed, with one type available for £2.99 in Superdrug accounting for a £1.8 million spend, and a further £964,399 was spent on Corsodyl.

Hand sanitiser was prescribed, while Strepsils, Halls, Throaties and Tyrozets lozenges accounted for more than £25,000.

In 2015, £9.27 billion was spent on all prescriptions dispensed in the community - a 4.68 per cent rise on the £8.85 billion in 2014, the data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) showed.

In 2015, 1.08 billion prescription items were dispensed - a 1.79 per cent rise from the 1.06 billion in 2014.

Around 90 per cent of prescriptions are free of charge to patients. Critics said too much money was being "sqaundered" on bathroom cabinet items but the Royal College of GPs said doctors issued prescriptions in the best interests of patients.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "The NHS is under enormous financial pressure right now.

"Every penny in the NHS must be spent appropriately and wisely. Practitioners must always make sure that prescription items are necessary.

"However, patients also have responsibilities to not waste the NHS's scarce resources and should endeavour to pay for everyday items such as cold remedies out of their own pocket."

The data showed thousands spent on head lice treatments, with the Hedrin head lice treatment accounting for 41,560 prescriptions at £279,143 while the bill for Full Marks was £12,591.