Request

Please may I have:

- The number of times either sodium valproate (BNF chemical substance code 0408010W0) or valproic acid (BNF chemical substance codes 0402030Q0 and 040801020) has been dispensed where the pack has been split in each of the following financial years: 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23

- In addition to an England total for each financial year, if possible, please could the data also be split by the patient's sex and age range

Date range: 1/4/2018 – 31/3/2023

On 1 November 2023 you clarified the following:

You have asked for data on how many items have been dispensed where the pack has been split, we assume you mean where the full pack has been split so in the above examples the full pack will be 30 / 100 – can you please confirm this is our correct understanding?

Yes, this is correct – thank you.

You have asked for age range, please specify what age ranges you would like the data split by?

Please would you split as follows: Under 18, 18-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56-65, 66 and above

On 8 November you further clarified:

I wanted the age and gender breakdown in relation to the split pack data.

Response

A copy of the information is attached.

English NHS prescribing of products within chemical substance sodium valproate (BNF 0408010W0), valproic acid (BNF 0402030Q0) and valproic acid (BNF 040801020) indicating the number of times the pack has been split / not split when dispensed. Data is broken down by gender and grouped by requested age ranges for financial years 2018/2019, 2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.

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).

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.

This dataset is limited to prescribing of products within chemical substance:

sodium valproate (BNF 0408010W0), valproic acid (BNF 0402030Q0), valproic acid (BNF 040801020), The data is broken down by gender and grouped for specified age bands and indicates the number of times the pack populated on our drug database against the product has been split / not split when dispensed.

Please note: Products which are populated on our drug database as Special Orders have been excluded from the data as the NHSBSA do not hold pack sizes for these products.

Time Period – Financial years 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23

Organisation Data - The data is for items prescribed in England regardless of where dispensed in the community.

Please note: The data excludes products dispensed in Scotland as the English prescribing data provided back to the NHSBSA from Scotland does not include pack level information, therefore we cannot determine if the pack had been split or not.

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. The majority of such items are dressings and appliances which NHS Prescription Services has classified into four pseudo BNF chapters (20 to 23).

Gender - Patient gender has been reported using the latest patient gender information held by the NHSBSA Information Services data warehouse at the time that the data was extracted. This uses information from either the most recent Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) message or from the last time that NHSBSA received data about the patient's gender from NHS Personal Demographics Service.

Please note: Not Known is where no information is held. Indeterminate is where information is held which does not confirm either Male or Female.

Age Groups - The data has been broken down by the following age ranges as requested by the requester. Under 18, 18-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56-65, 66 and above.

Please note: Not all patient’s age can be captured and therefore for completeness of the data we have provided those that are unknown.

Split pack

Please note: For the requested time period of this dataset some presentations within these chemical substances were listed with pack sizes that contained a number of numeric sub packs. Although the pack size itself could be split reimbursement policy was that we would not split the numeric sub pack. The full pack and not the numeric sub pack has been used to determine if the pack was split or not. This was confirmed by the requester.

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

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data, please contact foidata@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: “ePACT2, 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.