Thank you for your request for information about the following:
Request
You asked us:
For each of the last three calendar years (2023. 2024 and 2025) please provide:
The total number of patients aged under 18 who were prescribed:
(a) Semaglutide (Wegovy)
(b) Tirzepatide (Mounjaro)
(c) Any other GLP-1 receptor agonist or dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist licensed for weight management
For each year please provide a breakdown of these patients by the single year of age at the time of first prescription (e.g. 10, 11, 12, etc.)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 16 February 2026.
We requested clarification on 26 February 2026:
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.
Therefore I would be grateful if you would help with the below queries:
1) Our interpretation of the age would be to provide the lowest age for a patient in each of calendar years where they were prescribed one of the included medications. E.g. the age of the patient before their birthday that year. Please can you confirm if this is what you mean?
2) ‘(c) Any other GLP-1 receptor agonist or dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist licensed for weight management’
The NHSBSA does not hold information on which drugs are GLP-1 receptors, or whether they are licensed for weight management. Can you please provide a full list of the brands of medication that you would like to be included in this dataset?
There is some guidance around weight loss medication on the NHS Website, which may be of help to you: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obesity/treatment/
3) The majority of medications are prescribed generically (e.g. semaglutide), and are dispensed as a brand (Wegovy, Ozempic etc.). Therefore, it is easier to determine which brand of medication a patient received by looking at the dispensed medication rather than the prescribed medication. Are you happy to receive data based on the dispensed drug?
Please note that some medication is both prescribed and dispensed as the generic form rather than a brand. Would you like these instances to also be included?
You responded on 26 February 2026:
Thank you for your email requesting clarification. I am happy to confirm the following:
1) Age definition
Yes, please use the patient’s age at the time of dispensing, defined as their age in whole years on the date the medication was dispensed. A breakdown by single year of age (for example: 10, 11, 12, 13, etc.) would be preferred.
2) Drugs to be included
Please include the following medications, whether prescribed generically or dispensed as branded products:
Semaglutide (including, but not limited to, Wegovy and Ozempic)
Tirzepatide (including, but not limited to, Mounjaro)
Liraglutide (including Saxenda)
3) Dispensed vs prescribed medication
Yes, I am happy for the data to be based on dispensed medications, and please include both:
medications dispensed under a brand name, and
medications dispensed under the generic drug name
4) Measure requested
For each calendar year (2023, 2024, and 2025), please provide:
the total number of unique patients aged under 18 dispensed each medication, and
a breakdown of these patients by single year of age
Please ensure each patient is counted only once per drug per year.
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 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.
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.
• items supplied under NHS pharmacy advanced services.
Time Period
January 2023 - December 2025, presented as calendar years.
Organisation Data
The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed England.
Patients
Patients aged under 18 (0-17) based on their calculated age at the time of prescription processing and presented as 1 year age bands.
Prescriptions are only included if an NHS Number has been captured during NHSBSA processing. NHS Numbers were recorded on 95.56% of prescriptions for these chemical substances within the time period.
Drugs
Limited to the following BNF chemical substances, whether dispensed generically or as a branded product:
Semaglutide (0601023AW)
Tirzepatide (0601023AZ)
Liraglutide (0601023AB)
Please note: The NHSBSA does not hold information on the clinical reason for a drug being prescribed. Additionally, the chemical substances in this dataset encompass presentations that are not licensed for weight management.
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 2026”. 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.
![[Open Data]](/base/images/od_80x15_blue.png)
