Thank you for your request for information about the following: 

I have been referred to you by Lord Kamall (parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Innovation (Lords)) as being able to answer my questions below.

how many prescriptions for Acetazolamide modified release have been issued by the NHS each year over the last 5 years?

What are the dates of the national shortages of Acetazolamide modified release that have occurred over the last 20 years (or as records permit)?

Your request was received on 3rd July and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 

Response

Under Section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. The information you requested is available from web link:

For information on prescription items dispensed in the community in England which have been submitted to the NHSBSA for reimbursement.

Dataset: Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) Annual statistics
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/prescription-cost-analysis-pca-annual-statistics

There is a Data Dictionary describing each column of data once you select a time period (at the bottom of the screen)

Dataset: Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) Monthly Administrative Data
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/prescription-cost-analysis-pca-monthly-data

For information on English prescribing data issued in England and dispensed in England, Wales, Scotland, Guernsey, Alderney, Jersey, and the Isle of Man.

Dataset: English Prescribing Dataset (EPD) https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-prescribing-data-epd

To view a short video on how to use the Open Data Portal: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/open-data-portal-odp

The following web link has information of all the dates from 2012 for national shortages.

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pharmacies-gp-practices-and-appliance-contractors/serious-shortage-protocols-ssps

Please note that this request and our response is published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at: 

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01275

Data Queries 

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact dataandinsightsupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk / foidata@nhsbsa.nhs.uk / 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 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 2023” 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.