Thank you for your request for information about the following:

‘Please could you let me have the following information :

How many distance selling pharmacies (DSPs) are there currently in Suffolk & North East Essex

What are their company names, addresses and ODS codes

How many DSPs were there in 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018

How many items were delivered via DSPs in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018’

Your request was received on 4 April 2023 and has been dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

A copy of the information is attached.

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.

Organisation Data

Limited to dispensers within NHS SUFFOLK AND NORTH EAST ESSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD (QJG)

Data is separated by question as below;

FOI01080_Q1_AND_Q2

Q1 - How many distance selling pharmacies (DSPs) are there currently in Suffolk & North East Essex

Q2 - What are their company names, addresses and ODS codes

FOI01080_Q1_AND_Q2 caveats

This is the most recent data as held in the NHSBSA data warehouse for open distance sellers in April 2023 as ran on 18 April 2023

FOI01080_Q3

Q3 - How many DSPs were there in 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018

FOI01080_Q3 caveats

Data is limited to between January 2018 and April 2023. Data is limited to distinct ODS codes recorded as distance sellers at any point during the calendar year.

FOI01080_Q4

Q4 - How many items were delivered via DSPs in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018

FOI01080_Q4 caveats

Data is limited to between January 2018 and February 2023 (our latest processed prescription data). Data shows the number of items dispensed by dispensers with ODS codes showing as distance sellers during the processing month.

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.