Thank you for your request for information about the following:

This is an FOI request under the 2000 Freedom of Information Act. Please tell me:

1) How many community pharmacies in England have signed up to provide the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service between 24 April, when sign-up for the service opened, and November 16. Please provide a full list of pharmacies that have signed up including their name and location.

2) What proportion of pharmacies in England does this equate to?

Please confirm receipt of this request. If there is anything you would like me to clarify please let me know at the earliest opportunity, otherwise I look forward to receiving your answer within 20 working days.

Your request was received on 16 November 2023 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

NHSBSA Prescription Services process prescriptions and information is then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors (in England) for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings. This involves processing approximately 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 users.

Question 1

3,355 pharmacies have signed up to provide the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service

Please see the attached .csv file for the full list of English pharmacy contractors including their parent Integrated Care Board (ICB) and full address.

Question 2

There are 11,995 English pharmacy contractors who were open between 24th April 2023 and 16th November 2023, meaning 27.97% of possible pharmacies have signed up to the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service between those two dates.

Data Source

NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse

The data is correct at the time of running - 20/11/2023

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact 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.