Request

1. On the subject of Full Extract Medicinal Cannabis, how many NHS prescriptions have been written for Epilepsy (including those approved under a licence before the law change in November 2018)?
2. On the subject of Full extract Medical Cannabis, how many IFR’s have been submitted for this medication for Epilepsy, and how many of these have been approved?
3. On the subject of Full Extract Medical Cannabis have how many NHS prescriptions been issued either directly by the NHS or through an IFR /CCG process for any medical condition other than epilepsy, and if so which conditions and how many of each?
4. Have any privately prescribed prescriptions for Full extract medical cannabis been funded by the NHS, any government department or local authority, either by individual agreement, reimbursement, or specially created fund?
5. How many NHS Sativex Prescriptions have been issued by the NHS?
6. How many Nabilone prescriptions have been issued by the NHS?
7. How Many Epidiolex prescriptions have been issued by the NHS?

Response

Questions 1-3

We do not hold the clinical indication of why a medicine is prescribed so are not able to provide any information for which conditions Full Extract Medical Cannabis have been prescribed.

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the information on prescribing of NHS Unlicenced Cannabis. This is 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

Question 4

It is only mandated that dispensing contractors submit private prescribing of Schedule 2 or 3 controlled drugs to the NHSBSA for information purposes. No reimbursement is made. Please refer to Drug Tariff Part XX – Requisition and Private Prescriptions for Controlled Drugs. https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pharmacies-gp-practices-and-appliance-contractors/drug-tariff

Private Patients

It is not currently possible to accurately provide private patient count information as this data is not routinely captured for private prescriptions.

Question 5-7

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 below.

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

When using EPD data you will also have to look at the link below for a full set of data.

EPD data will include prescriptions which have been prescribed in a hospital which is held on the NHSBSA organisational database as a cost centre and then dispensed in the community.

However, there is an extra secondary care dataset which is for prescriptions prescribed by NHS Hospital Trust units which have been dispensed in the community. https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/hospital-prescribing-dispensed-in-the-community

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

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01408