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Provisional Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with indicative price

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hospital-provider-medicines

Hospital & Provider Medicines

Datasets on the supply of medicines from NHS provider organisations. read full version of description

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Open Government Licence 3.0 (United Kingdom) [Open Data]

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Provisional Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with indicative price

Dataset Description

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) publishes Secondary Care Medicines Data on behalf of NHS England (NHSE).

This dataset provides 'Provisional' Secondary Care Medicines data for all NHS Acute, Teaching, Specialist, Mental Health, and Community Trusts in England. It provides information on pharmacy stock control, reflecting processed medicines data. RX Info is responsible for refreshing the Provisional data at the close of each financial year to include backtracking adjustments. The data is 'Finalised' to provide validated and complete figures for each reporting period, incorporating any updates and corrections throughout the year.

The Finalised dataset serves as the definitive record for each month and year, offering the most accurate information on medicines issued. While we do not analyse changes, users can compare the finalised data with provisional data to identify any discrepancies.

Key Components of the Data

  • Quantities of Medicines Issued: Details the total quantities of medicines stock control via NHS Secondary Care services.
  • Indicative Costs: Actual costs cannot be displayed in the dataset as NHS Hospital pricing contracts and NICE Patient Access Schemes are confidential. The indicative cost of medicines is derived from current medicines pricing data held in NHSBSA data systems (Common Drug Reference and dm+d), calculated to VMP level. Indicative costs are calculated using:
    • Community pharmacy reimbursement prices for generic medicines.
    • List prices for branded medicines.
    Care should be taken when interpreting and analysing this indicative cost as it does not reflect the net actual cost of NHS Trusts, which will differ due to the application of confidential discounts, rebates, or procurement agreements paid by hospitals when purchasing medicines.
  • Standardisation with SNOMED CT and dm+d: SNOMED CT (Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms) is used to enhance the dataset’s compatibility with electronic health record systems and clinical decision support tools. SNOMED CT is a globally recognised coding system that provides precise definitions for clinical terms, ensuring interoperability across healthcare systems.
  • Trust-Level Data: Data is broken down by individual NHS Trusts, enabling regional comparisons, benchmarking, and targeted analysis of specific Trusts.
  • Medicine Identification: Medicines in the dataset are identified using Virtual Medicinal Product (VMP) codes from the Dictionary of Medicines and Devices (dm+d):
    • VMP_PRODUCT_NAME: The name of the Virtual Medicinal Product (VMP) as defined by the dm+d, which includes key details about the product. For example: Paracetamol 500mg tablets.
    • VMP_SNOMED_CODE: The code for the Virtual Medicinal Product (VMP), providing a unique identifier for each product. For example: 42109611000001109 represents Paracetamol 500mg tablets.

You can access the finalised files in our Finalised Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with indicative price dataset.

Dataset Details

Service Overview

Information about our NHSBSA Prescriptions Data service can be found here - Prescription data | NHSBSA

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) publishes this dataset, provided by RX Info, which contains information about pharmacy stock control in NHS Secondary Care settings across England on behalf of NHS England. It includes data from NHS Trusts and is in a standardised dm+d format (Dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) | NHSBSA).

For further context about the Secondary Care Medicines Data, you can explore the following resources:

Secondary Care Medicines Data Release Guidance v0.5 (Word: 78.3KB)

RX Info: RX Info is the provider of the data related to pharmacy stock control medicines issued in NHS Secondary Care settings, which is made available by NHSBSA. Visit RX Info's website for more details.

Data Source

The data is sourced from NHS Trusts' pharmacy stock control systems which capture detailed records of medicines issued, including quantities.

The data is provided to NHSBSA by RX Info, a data provider that supplies records on medicines issued in NHS Secondary Care settings.

Data quality controls are in place to exclude transactions flagged as outliers, non-standardised items and zero activity. No personal or patient-identifiable information is included, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.

Rx-Info will provide a complete annual refresh of the data two months after the close of a financial year, planned for the end May, which will then be the fixed data set accounting for backtracking. The data for the finalised view is provided to NHSBSA.

Data Collection

Data is from NHS England sites only and provided under the agreement entered into by Trusts and Rx-Info (Define) facilitated by NHS England. The data owners and data controllers are the respective NHS Trusts.

Time Periods

Publication frequency: Data is uploaded on a monthly basis and is published retrospectively with a two-month delay. For example, January data is published in March.

Historical Data: Data is available from April 2021 onwards.

Geography

NHS Trusts in England.

Statistical Classification

This is not an official statistic.

A related official statistic can be found in our Prescribing Costs in Hospitals and the Community publication, which includes Secondary Care Medicines data with actual cost, broken down by British National Formulary (BNF) Section.

Caveats

Information:

Interpreting 'Cost' Data

Cost Limitations and Interpretation

  • Indicative Costs: The costs in this dataset are indicative and do not reflect the net actual cost (including discounts and rebates) paid by hospitals when purchasing medicines. Due to confidential procurement agreements, the indicative costs will overestimate total NHS hospital expenditure. These figures are most useful for trend analysis rather than precise cost predictions.
  • Cost Growth: Growth estimates based on this dataset should be interpreted with caution. Discounts and rebates affect both spending levels and growth rates, meaning that observed cost trends may not fully represent actual NHS expenditure patterns.
Information:

Scope of Medicines Data

The dataset does not include medicines prescribed in primary care (e.g., GP surgeries) or private healthcare providers, or NHS prescriptions supplied by hospitals dispensed in community pharmacy.

Information:

Data Responsibility

NHS Business Services Authority publish this data on behalf of NHS England and are therefore not able to provide analytical support or interpretation of the data. This data is provided by individual NHS Trusts via the Rx-Info system.

Information:

Further Guidance

Additional information is available in the Secondary Care Medicines Data Release Guidance v0.5 (Word: 78.3KB) documentation.

Enquiries

Who can I contact if I have queries relating to the data?

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data, please contact DataServicesSupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the name of the dataset for reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

Citing and Reusing This Data

Important information regarding 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/or other applicable law. You may use the data freely, provided that you attribute the source.

Citation

NHS Business Services Authority. " Provisional - Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with indicative price " NHS Business Services Authority Open Data. Accessed [Date Accessed]. URL: https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/secondary-care-medicines-data-indicative-price

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Data warehouse
Contact NHSBSA Data Services support team
Version 1.0
State active
Last Updated March 21, 2025, 14:54 (UTC)
Created July 1, 2021, 17:19 (UTC)