Request

How many girls aged 15 and under were prescribed the contraceptive pill in the UK, by year? Looking at the years 2005, 2006, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 (if the data for 2023 is not already available, it is fine without 2023).

On 7 March 2024 you clarified the following:

I would like to get information on: How many girls aged 15 and under were prescribed the contraceptive pill in the UK, by year? Looking at the years 2005, 2006, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 (if the data for 2023 is not already available, it is fine without 2023).

For drugs under the BNF codes

0703021Q0 0703022P0 0703023L0 0703022M0 0703010F0

And indeed, I would like to know drugs prescribed in the UK, regardless where they were dispensed.

Response

A copy of the information is attached.

Prescribing in England of contraceptive products (BNF 0703010F0, 0703021Q0, 0703022M0, 0703022P0 and 0703023L0) for females aged 15 and under

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

Calendar years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 (aggregated)

Organisation Data

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

Data

This dataset is limited to the prescribing of products of contraceptives, BNF chemical substances below which were requested by the customer, for females aged 15 and under.

0703010F0 - Combined ethinylestradiol 30mcg

0703021Q0 - Desogestrel

0703022M0 - Medroxyprogesterone acetate

0703022P0 - Etonogestrel

0703023L0 - Levonorgestrel

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. Gender is Female.

Patient Identification

The patient count figures are based on a distinct count of NHS number as captured from the prescription image.

Patient ages are based on the age as captured from the prescription image and relates to the patient's age at the time of prescribing/dispensing. Results have been restricted to only show results for females aged 15 and under.

The figures for the number of identifiable patients should not be combined and reported at any other level than provided as this may result in the double-counting of patients. For example, a single patient could appear in the results for multiple financial years and age bands.

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 2024” 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.