Request

Chemist4U located at 34a-37 Greenhey Place, East, Gillibrands Rd, Skelmersdale WN8 9SA is a registered Pharmacy and NHS Contract Holder. Please can you inform us how many Ozempic and Saxenda have been dispensed for NHS patients under FP10 or other prescriptions. Please can you separate the dispensed items by medications as below and by month. Ozempic 0.25mg/0.19ml solution for injection 1.5ml pre-filled pens Novo Nordisk Ltd Ozempic 0.5mg/0.37ml solution for injection 1.5ml pre-filled pens Novo Nordisk Ltd Ozempic 1mg/0.74ml solution for injection 3ml pre-filled pens Novo Nordisk Ltd. Saxenda 6mg/ml solution for injection 3ml pre-filled pens Novo Nordisk Ltd.

This pharmacy has been stockpiling Ozempic and Saxenda during a national shortage, and has claimed that's its stockpile was for NHS patients.

The time period was further clarified on 29th September for the data to be provided between January 2019 and August 2023.

Response

A copy of the information is attached. 

Please read the below notes to ensure a 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: ePACT2
Data in ePACT2 is sourced from the NHSBSA Data Warehouse and is derived from products prescribed on prescriptions and dispensed in the Community. The data captured from prescription processing is used to calculate reimbursement and remuneration. It includes items prescribed in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Guernsey / Alderney, Jersey, and Isle of Man which have been dispensed in the community in England. English prescribing that has been dispensed in Wales, Scotland, Guernsey / Alderney, Jersey, and Isle of Man is also included.

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.

Time Period:
Monthly data from January 2019 to August 2023

Organisation Data:
The data is for prescriptions dispensed by CHEMIST4U (FPQ59)

Data included:
This dataset is limited to the dispensing (reimbursement) of
Ozempic 0.25mg/0.19ml inj 1.5ml pre-filled pens
Ozempic 0.5mg/0.37ml inj 1.5ml pre-filled pens
Ozempic 1mg/0.74ml inj 3ml pre-filled pens
Saxenda 6mg/ml solution for injection 3ml pre-filled pens
Victoza 6mg/ml solution for injection 3ml pre-filled pens
Included in the data is the prescribed presentation of the above brands.
Please note that NHSBSA dispensed data represents reimbursement policy and does not necessarily mean that this is the product that is dispensed to the patient.

Semaglutide (Ozempic):
Generic prescribing of Semaglutide which is in the Drug Tariff Part VIIIA Cat C based on Ozempic and is not available to dispense generically. As there is only 1 brand available Ozempic, any dispensing datasets will follow reimbursement policy and capture as dispensed Ozempic.
A generic drug with a single brand equivalent. A one -to-one mapping (ref agreed methodology below)

Liraglutide (Saxenda and including Victoza):
Generic prescribing of Liraglutide is reported as dispensed (reimbursed) the proprietary presentation (Victoza). This generic drug has 2 brand equivalents Saxenda and Victoza. Liraglutide is in the Drug Tariff Part VIIIA Cat C based on Victoza, where a unique relationship can be determined (based on reimbursement costs)
If the patient is prescribed generic Liraglutide the contractor could provide either Saxenda or Victoza but will be reimbursed Victoza and the dispensed data captured as Victoza.
Any endorsements for branded products made against prescribed liraglutide would be ignored in terms of reimbursement.

Methodology: There is an agreed methodology as to how generic prescribing is reflected within dispensing data.
The following link takes you to the NHS Business Services Authority, Prescription Cost Analysis, Background Information and Methodology document that explains how the methodology is applied and reported with any dispensing datasets.
Background Information and methodology https://nhsbsa-opendata.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/pca/pca_background_info_methodology_v001.html

BNF Code:
The BNF Code is a 15-digit code in which the first seven digits are allocated according to the categories in the BNF, and the last 8 digits represent the medicinal product, form, strength, and the link to the generic equivalent product. NHS Prescription Services has created pseudo BNF chapters, which are not published, for items not included in BNF chapters 1 to 15. Many of such items are dressings and appliances which NHS Prescription Services has classified into four pseudo BNF chapters (20 to 23).

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

Total quantity:
Total quantity is the number of items multiplied by the quantity prescribed. e.g., 2 items prescribed, one with a quantity of 2 and one with a quantity of 3, the total quantity would show as 5 (1 item x quantity of 2) + (1 item x quantity of 3)