Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

You asked us:

I would like to request the number of unique patients ordering 'Colostomy Bags' or 'Ileostomy Bags' over the last 24 months please. It would be great to have this broken down by geography (perhaps ICB, or Hospital). However, if such breakdown does not exist, then a aggregated number would be great thanks.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 11 August 2025.

We requested clarification on 19 August 2025:

I am writing to ask you to clarify your request. This is because we need further details from you in order to identify and locate the information.

Please can you confirm your definition for ‘Colostomy Bags’ and ‘Ileostomy Bags'? Would you be happy with BNF sections 2335 (Colostomy Bags) and 2360 (Ileostomy Bags) or would you like a wider definition?

You responded on 21 August 2025:

Thank you for your response regarding my Freedom of Information request.

To clarify:
• I would like the data for community pharmacy dispensing.
• Please provide this at the most granular geographical level available.
• For the product definitions, BNF sections 2335 (Colostomy Bags) and 2360 (Ileostomy Bags) would be ideal.

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

Our 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.

NHSBSA Prescription Services process prescriptions and information is then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors (in England) for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings. This involves processing approximately 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 users.

Data Source:
NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse

Contents:
Data on prescribing of drugs in BNF Section 2335 - Colostomy Bags and 2360 - Ileostomy Bags

Time Period:
Data covers the period July 2023 to June 2025.

Organisation Level:
The data is shown for all dispensing in England, split by ICB.

Patient counts:
Patients who could not be identified by means of a valid NHS number on the prescription are excluded. The figures for the number of identifiable patients should not be combined and reported at any other level than provided as this may result in the double-counting of patients.

A patient NHS number could be associated with 97.77% of all items in this dataset.

Drugs:
All drugs in BNF Sections 2335 - Colostomy Bags and 2360 - Ileostomy Bags

Exclusions:
The data excludes items dispensed in prisons, hospital and private prescriptions but does include dental, prison and hospital prescriptions which are dispensed in the community.

If a prescription was issued but not presented for dispensing or was not submitted to NHSBSA Prescription Services by the dispenser, then it is not included in the data provided.

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:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “Data Warehouse, 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.