Thank you for your request for information about the following: Would it be possible to request the for the prescription month October 2023 the number of items reimbursed for the attached list:

Where the total item quantity on prescription form is 7 or fewer units

Where the total item quantity on prescription form is 8 to 27 units

Where the total item quantity on prescription form is 28 or larger

Products: Aspirin dispersible 75 mg tablets (any pack size), Aspirin 75mg tablets (any pack size), Aspirin ec 75mg tablets (any pack size), Atorvastatin 20mg tablets , Atorvastatin 40mg tablets, Bendroflumethiazide 2.5mg tablets, Clopidogrel 75mg tablets, Donepezil 10mg tablets, Fluoxetine 20mg capsules, Lansoprazole 30mg capsules, Furosemide 40mg tablets (any pack size), Levothyroxine 25mcg tablets, Levothyroxine 50mcg tablets, Levothyroxine 100mcg tablets, Memantine 10mg tablets, Memantine 20mg tablets, Omeprazole 20mg capsules, Simvastatin 20mg tablets and Simvastatin 40mg tablets

Your request was received on 27 February 2024 and has been dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

A copy of the information is attached.

Items prescribed for listed presentations, aggregated by total item quantities of 7 or fewer units, 8-27 units and 28 (or above) units

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:

October 2023

Organisation Data:

The data is limited to prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in England.

Data:

This dataset contains the numbers items prescribed for the BNF Presentations included in the accompanying document FOI01775 Drug List. The data does not include linking brands, but can include items where the prescription is written generically and with a supplier specified in the main body (for example Atorvastatin 40mg tablets Teva UK Ltd). The items are aggregated by total item quantities prescribed of 7 or fewer units, 8-27 units and 28 (or above) units.

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).

Quantity:

Quantity normally shows the quantity of a product. However, where a product is packed in a 'special container' (see Drug Tariff Part II Clause 10) the pharmacist is not required to split the pack and may supply the number of containers or original packs which provide the quantity nearest to that prescribed. In some circumstances these items show quantity as the number of units supplied i.e. 1 or 2 even though a pack may contain 56 tablets.

Items:

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) 

This data is formatted to whole numbers. 

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

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01775

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: 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.