Request

I am looking for the number of NHS prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis medicines in the UK.

Having looked at previous FOI requests, I understand that you cannot release the exact numbers due to data protection and patient confidentiality, and as such I am looking for confirmation on whether this number is fewer than five or fewer than 10?

In January 23, Health Minister Will Quince was quoted as saying: 'NHSBSA is unable to provide the number of National Health Service prescription items for unlicensed cannabis-based medicines dispensed in the community in England. This information is being withheld in accordance with the GDPR, due to the number of items attributed to fewer than five patients and the elevated risk of potential patient identifiable information.'

Please see link below for source:

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-01-06/117459

Are you able to provide the original source from which he has obtained this information? And can you confirm whether this is still the case?

Additionally, please could you provide the most recent data for the number of private prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis medicines?

Response

I am looking for the number of NHS prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis medicines in the UK. Having looked at previous FOI requests, I understand that you cannot release the exact numbers due to data protection and patient confidentiality, and as such I am looking for confirmation on whether this number is fewer than five or fewer than 10?

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is unable to release information on prescribing of NHS Unlicensed Cannabis but can confirm that it is less than 5 prescriptions per month.

More information cannot be provided because the patients could be identified when combined with other information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available, such as media coverage about cannabis prescribing and the small number of people receiving these drugs.

This information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as:

a) it is not fair to disclose patients’ personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress.

b) these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the patients.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40

Breach of Patient Confidentiality

Please note that the identification of patients is also a breach of the common law duty of confidence. A patient who has been identified could make a claim against the NHSBSA for the disclosure of the confidential information.

The information requested is therefore being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 41(1) ‘Information provided in confidence’ of the Freedom of Information Act.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/41

Are you able to provide the original source from which he has obtained this information? And can you confirm whether this is still the case?

The following statement was provided to the Department of Health and Social Care in relation to https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-01-06/117459:

"The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is unable to provide the number of NHS prescription items for unlicensed cannabis-based medicines dispensed in the community in England. This information is being withheld in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), due to the number of items attributed to less than 5 patients and the elevated risk of potential patient identifiable information."

We can confirm that the number of patients is still less than 5.

Additionally, please could you provide the most recent data for the number of private prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis medicines?

Please find attached the data to November 2022.

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.

Currently, private prescriptions are only required to be submitted to the NHSBSA for schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs for monitoring purposes. This also applies to any unlicensed cannabis-based products.

Data Source

When prescriptions are processed by NHSBSA data capture, prescriptions sometimes contain prescribing of medicines that were not populated on the NHSBSA drug database at the time. This type of order will be captured as an ‘unspecified drug.’ Data for prescribing of unlicensed cannabis-based medicines has been taken from data captured as unspecified prescribing. Unlicensed cannabis-based medicines are identified by an additional review process which occurs after the prescriptions have been processed. The items identified by this review are reported against the date that the prescription was written and not necessarily when they were submitted. Therefore, these figures may be subject to change if the prescription is submitted to the NHSBSA in a later month.

This dataset

This dataset shows monthly items for private prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis-based products.

Time Period

November 2018 to November 2022 monthly (the latest available month).

Organisation Data

Data for private unlicensed prescriptions is limited to prescriptions dispensed in England.

Items shows the number of times a product appears on a prescription form not the quantity prescribed.