Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Previous you have issued a Freedom of Information response [Ref: 24438] in relation to the prescribing of drugs for erectile dysfunction (BNF 7.4.5). Could you provide me with a similar response this year? Specifically, could you state:

1. For the 2023 calendar year please state how many prescriptions were issued for drugs of BNF 7.4.5 for erectile dysfunction? Please break these prescriptions down into age groups for the people they were prescribed to in the following age brackets (i) 0-9, (ii) 10-19, (iii) 20-29, (iv) 30-39, (v) 40-49, (vi) 50-59, (vii) 60-69, (viii) 70-79, (ix) 80-89 and (x) 90 and above. Also please state the age of the oldest person prescribed a medication from that category (BNF 7.4.5) in 2023?
2. In relation to the drugs prescribed in 2023 could you please state how many prescriptions, and the cost was for each of the chemicals within section 7.4.5.?
3. In relation to the 2023 calendar year please state for each CCG:

(i) how many prescriptions under 7.4.5 were made,

(ii) the cost of these prescriptions,

(iii) the total number of patients in that CCG that were provided with a prescription for this type of drug at any time during the year, and

(iv) the total number of male patients in this CCG.

Your request was received on 15 April 2024 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

Age of the oldest person prescribed a medication from BNF 7.4.5 in 2023

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the details of this part of question 1. This is because patients could be identified, when combined with other information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available.

This information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as:

a) it is not fair to disclose patients personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress.

b) these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the patients.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

Freedom of Information Act, Section 40

Breach of Patient confidentiality

Please note that the identification of patients is also a breach of the common law duty of confidence. A patient who has been identified could make a claim against the NHSBSA for the disclosure of the confidential information.

The information requested is therefore being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 41(1) ‘Information provided in confidence’ of the Freedom of Information Act.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

Freedom of Information Act, Section 41

Remaining Information

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

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

The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.

Exclusions

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

January 2023 to December 2023

Drugs

Limited to drugs prescribed in the BNF Paragraph 070405 - Drugs for erectile dysfunction. Please note that the BNF paragraph does not guarantee the clinical indication.

Organisation Data

Prescribing is limited to prescribing in GP practices in English SICBLs only. Prescribing for query 3 has been split at Sub-integrated care board level (SICBL), formerly Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)

Identified patients/patient counts

Patients have been counted only if their NHS number was captured during NHSBSA processing. The patient's NHS number may not be captured if, for example, it was not known at the time of writing the prescription, or it was hand-written on a paper prescription and the OCR scanners were unable to read it. A patient may appear in more than one count, for example multiple SICBL if they have prescribing in multiple SICBLs, or multiple age groups. Therefore, you must not aggregate patient counts or present them in any way other than in these data sets.

Patient Age

Patient age is taken as the age captured from the form at the time of processing. Patients may appear in more than one age band so you must not aggregate patient counts or present them in any way other than in these data sets.

BNF Paragraph Code

The six digits at the beginning of a BNF code which specify the BNF Paragraph.

BNF Chemical Substance

The name of the Chemical substance, a subdivision within a sub-paragraph.

BNF Chemical Substance Code

The nine characters at the beginning of a BNF code which specify the Chemical substance of a drug.

Items

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

Net Ingredient Cost (NIC_GBP)

Net Ingredient cost (NIC) is the basic price of a drug as stated in Part II Clause 8 of the Drug Tariff but please note that where a price concession for items listed in Part VIII of the Drug Tariff has been agreed between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price.

Male List Size for the year is calculated as the average of the 12 monthly male list sizes. A monthly list size for a SICBL is based on sum of the list sizes of the GP practices within that SICBL.

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

Freedom of Information Disclosure Log

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:

Open Government Licence

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2024” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

Open Government Licence

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.