Request

The number of antibacterial drug items that were prescribed by NHS general dental practitioners and dispensed in the community in England between 1 March 2023 and 30 September 2023, inclusive.

Please may this information be provided as the following antibacterial drug items (related BNF codes) and the corresponding number of items that were dispensed each month (presented as monthly totals at drug level):

Phenoxymethylpenicillin (0501011P0) Amoxicillin (0501013B0) Co-amoxiclav (0501013K0) Cefalexin (0501021L0) Cefradine (0501021M0) Doxycycline hyclate (0501030I0) Oxytetracycline (0501030T0) Tetracycline (0501030V0) Doxycycline monohydrate (0501030Z0) Azithromycin (0501050A0) Clarithromycin (0501050B0) Erythromycin (0501050C0) Erythromycin ethylsuccinate (0501050H0) Erythromycin stearate (0501050N0) Clindamycin hydrochloride (0501060D0) Metronidazole (0501110C0).

Response

A copy of the information is attached. Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

Items in BNF 0501 prescribed by dentists and dispensed in the community in England

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.

This dataset shows the number of items at BNF drug presentation level for the requested BNF chemical substances in BNF Section 0501 Antibacterial drugs.

Time Period: March 2023 - September 2023 monthly

Organisation Data: The data is at national level and is for all English dental prescribing that has been dispensed in the community in England.

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