Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Following receipt of my FOI request 29915 in January 2023, can you now provide me with an updated spread sheet for the period October 2022 through to December 2022, by month, in the same format as previously supplied for all the dispensing appliance contractor ODS codes.

Your request was received on 6th March 2023 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

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 prescribed in England but dispensed in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Isle of Man.

Time period

October 2022 to December 2022

CONTRACTOR_CODE

Information which is supplied by NHS England Areas regarding Contractor details is held on a database. The contractor details are provided to NHSBSA Prescription Services to produce the submission documents for contractors to send in their prescriptions each month. The data is then processed and used to make payments to contractors. The contractor details are also sent to external partners Organisation Data Service (ODS) and NHS Choices.

NET_INGREDIENT_COST

The Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) is the basic price of a drug as stated in Part II Clause 8 of the Drug Tariff but please note that where a price concession for items listed in Part VIIIA of the Drug Tariff has been agreed between the Department of Health and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price. This NIC field includes broken bulk and so more correctly reflects what was paid to the contractor rather than the exact reimbursement cost of the drugs.

OVERALL_TOTAL_PAID

This is the final total payment made to the contractor by the NHSBSA which includes any fees paid in addition to the reimbursement cost of items. This value will include all of the other listed payments made against the contractor as well as other payments which have not been detailed in this breakdown.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact nhsbsa.communicationsteam@nhs.net. 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 2022” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

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

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.