Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

Would it be possible to obtain the same data for individual practices within the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB?

(Previous request; FOI-02702)

‘We are aiming to evaluate whether the introduction of the Wessex Asthma Network Guidelines (in September 2024) has had an impact on short-acting beta-agonist prescribing in children/young people across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Via the ePACT2 dashboard we can obtain data on prescribing of 6+ SABA inhalers over 12 months in all age groups. We would, however, like to obtain age-group specific data i.e. data for 1-5 year olds, 6-11 year old and 12-17 year olds and data for males vs females. We are also keen to obtain data on: prescribing of 3+ SABA inhalers, montelukast prescriptions and Symbicort inhaler prescriptions.  We would like to review data from September 2023 to September 2025.

Please could you advise whether it would be possible to obtain the prescribing data outlined above for practices across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. I would be very happy to meet to discuss further.’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 8 July 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for Pharmacy Contractors, Appliance Contractors, Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration with information then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors in England for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings (other arrangements are in place for making payments to Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration). This involves processing over 1 billion prescription items and payments totalling over £9 billion each year. The information gathered from this process is then used to provide information on costs and trends in prescribing in England and Wales to over 25,000 registered NHS and Department of Health and Social Care users.

Data Source
The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.

Time Period
All prescribing between September 2023 and February 2025. However, for the SABA files, prescribing from October 2022 was considered but is a 12-month-rolling metric so displayed against September 2023 - Feb 2025 only.

Organisation Data
The data is for prescriptions dispensed in the community of NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB - QRL00.

Drugs and appliances
Limited to prescribing of 3+, 6+ SABA inhalers, Montelukast and Symbicort drugs separately. Drugs are listed within the 'Drugs' supporting document.

Please note that if a patient has received more than one prescription for the same presentation in the same period from the same practice and dispenser, each of these prescriptions would be included.

Patient Age
Data is limited to forms where an NHS Number and age is captured as 1-5 year olds, 6-11 year old and 12-17 year olds.

Identified Patients
Prescriptions are only included in the data if an NHS number was captured during processing.

For further information please refer to the respiratory dashboard specifications: Respiratory Dashboard

Exclusions
The Data excludes:

• Items not dispensed, disallowed and those returned to the contractor for further clarification.
• Prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in prisons, hospitals and private prescriptions.
• Items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser.

Where patient identifiable figures have been reported they are based on the information captured during the prescription processing activities. Please note, patient details cannot be captured from every prescription form and based on the criteria used for this analysis, NHS numbers and ages are available for 99.56% of prescription items for drugs involved in the SABA metrics.

Data Queries
Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright
If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: Open Government Licence

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2025”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.