Request

Please advise the volume in mls or units that the NHS hospitals have used unlicensed tranexamic acid 5% mouthwash in England and wales.

On 22 July you clarified:

As to your comment you would only be able to provide hospital data dispensed in the community. Would you still like us to progress with the request? If that is all you can provide, please let us have that information.

On 13 August 2024 you added:

Further to my earlier email, please provide data from 1st January 2023 to present.

Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested, and a copy of the information is attached.

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

Total number of items and quantity (in millilitres) of Tranexamic acid 5% mouthwash prescribed in a hospital and dispensed in the community.

NHSBSA - 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.

Dataset – This dataset is limited to prescribing of Tranexamic acid 5% mouthwash. It includes total items and quantity (in millilitres). Note quantity is shown to one decimal place.

Time Period – Data is aggregated for the time-period of January 2023 – June 2024.

Organisation Data - The data is for hospital prescribing in England regardless of where it was dispensed in the community.

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). Note quantity for this analysis is shown to one decimal place.

Publishing this response

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02097