Thank you for your request for information as outlined below:

Following receipt of my FOI request 29916 in January 2023 I would like to request the same information for the period October to December 2022.

Your request was received on 6th March 2023 and has been dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

Accessing CSVs with more than 1 million rows

CSVs with more than 1 million rows can be viewed using add-ons to existing software, such as the Microsoft PowerPivot add-on for Excel, to handle larger data sets. The Microsoft PowerPivot add-on for Excel is available using the link in the 'Related Links' section below.

Once PowerPivot has been installed, to load the large files, please follow the instructions below. Note that it may take at least 20 to 30 minutes to load one monthly file.

1. Start Excel as normal

2. Click on the PowerPivot tab

3. Click on the PowerPivot Window icon (top left)

4. In the PowerPivot Window, click on the "From Other Sources" icon

5. In the Table Import Wizard e.g. scroll to the bottom and select Text File

6. Browse to the file you want to open and choose the file extension you require e.g. CSV

Once the data has been imported you can view it in a spreadsheet.

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.

Please note drugs flagged in our database as Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs have been excluded from this dataset for information security reasons to prevent the identification of organisations with high levels of controlled drug dispensing.

Whilst Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs are excluded from the data search, note that as appliance contractors are unable to dispense controlled drugs, these drugs would never have appeared in the data provided.

Time Period

October 2022 to December 2022

PRACTICE CODE

No limits are placed on prescribing practice. The symbol (-) is used for dummy practices (for example unidentified doctors or Scottish doctors)

DISPENSER_CODE

Dispenser codes are limited to the following;

FA133,FA696,FAA96,FAH84,FAV47,FC714,FC850,FC879,FCE87,FCH11,FCY62,FD135,FDA28,FDC49,FDR75,FE401,FE807,FEC67,FEW49,FF468,FFF14,FFY66,FFY68,FG020,FGD92,FGR26,FGW36,FH261,FH272,FH421,FH767,FH804,FHC99,FHE90,FHT00,FHY81,FJ469,FJ708,FJE85,FJF97,FJH75,FJM24,FJM43,FJM85,FJN80,FJT66,FJV34,FK593,FKM09,FKV20,FL755,FLD15,FLD64,FLE21,FLE95,FLJ41,FLV51,FM982,FMD74,FMG28,FMK11,FMV40,FMV84,FMY99,FND22,FNE35,FNE89,FNJ81,FPC27,FPE43,FPM97,FPP28,FPP56,FPW87,FQ588,FQ608,FQT79,FR040,FR158,FR739,FRF82,FRQ51,FRX15,FT468,FT553,FTD28,FTL51,FTM68,FTQ92,FTR18,FV104,FV224,FVQ58,FVT91,FVW18,FW285,FWC51,FWE39,FWL22,FWN04,FWN89,FWP06,FWP87,FXF12,FXF13,FXG29,FXN29,FXW55,FXW61,FYL81 and FYR20

BNF CODE

The 11 characters at the beginning of a BNF code which specifies a Product (generic or branded) but not its strength or formulation.

PRODUCT_ORDER_NUMBER and PACK_ORDER_NUMBER: If this is not held in our database then it will be blank.

NIC_GBP

The cost of the supplied item(s) calculated from the reimbursement price held on the NHSBSA master database. Given in Pounds Sterling.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data, please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk 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 Information Services Data Warehouse, 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.