Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘Could I please request any information that is available to review:

• Which communities dispense private prescriptions

• What volume of private scripts are being dispensed in these accounts’

On 14 October 2025 you clarified your request as follows

‘Apologies it should have read community pharmacies not communities

I was aware of the controlled drugs element and would be happy for those to be the volumes that are reference per account. Could we do the last 6 months please that you have data for?’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 9 October 2025.

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

Our response

The information you requested is being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 38(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. This is because the disclosure of which pharmacies dispense controlled drugs prescriptions is likely to lead to pharmacy staff and wholesaler delivery drivers being targeted and attacked to obtain supplies of controlled drugs. This may also affect the safety of patients and customers of those pharmacies.

This conclusion has been reached after receiving detailed information from pharmacy representative organisations.

Similarly, disclosing which pharmacies are not receiving these fees will allow the pharmacies that are receiving these fees to be identified by a process of deduction.

This is because a list of all active pharmacies is available in the public domain based on previous FOI disclosures we have made and also on the www.data.gov.uk website at

http://data.gov.uk/dataset/england-nhs-connecting-for-health-organisation-data-service-data-files-of-general-medical-practices

In applying this exemption we have balanced the public interest in withholding the information against the public interest in disclosing the information.

The below link sets out the exemption in full:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/38

See the below factors considered when deciding that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Factors in Favour of Disclosure

Public accountability

Factors in Favour of Withholding

Disclosure would mean staff will be at a higher risk of physical attack from persons seeking to obtain controlled drugs by force or intimidation.

Patient safety may also be put at risk by the above.

Theft of drugs would cause disruption to the pharmacy, and impact on provision of important medication.

Theft of drugs could impact on patient health if the drugs aren’t readily available at the point of collection.

Conclusion:

We recognise that there is a public interest in the disclosure of information which facilitates accountability and transparency of public bodies for decisions taken by them and to enable the public to understand decisions affecting their lives and to contribute to public understanding and participation; however, there is also a public interest in preventing the harm to the physical or mental health or safety of any individual.

Having undertaken the balancing exercise, we have concluded that the weight afforded to the public interest in maintaining the exemption at this time outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Please see the following link to view the exemption in full –

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/38

Publicly Available Private Contractor Indicator

Data is available publicly, which indicates whether a pharmacy is a private contractor. If the pharmacy can dispense private prescriptions i.e. it can submit FP10PCD forms then it will be marked 'Private' in this field. This data can be found at the below web link.

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/contractor-details

Column W within each month’s dataset shows which pharmacies are able to submit private prescriptions.

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: “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.