Request

1. For the 2023 calendar year please state how many prescriptions were issued for drugs of BNF 4.1.1 - hypnotics? 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

1. 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 4.1.1.?

2. In relation to the 2023 calendar year please state for each CCG (I appreciate that these are old administrative units now but I would still like the figures on the CCG basis rather than the ICB):

(i) how many prescriptions under 4.1.1 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 patients in this CCG.

On 1 August 2024 you clarified:

Yes, please provide the data in Sub ICB locations where in the question I have asked for it on a CCG basis.

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.

Question 1

Prescriptions items for drugs of BNF 4.1.1 - Hypnotics. In age groups 0-9, 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80-89, 90+ and age unknown prescribed in England.

Question 2

Prescriptions items and Net Ingredient Cost (£) for each BNF Chemical Substance of BNF 4.1.1 – Hypnotics prescribed in England.

Question 3

Prescriptions items, Net Ingredient Cost (£) and total number of unique patients for each Sub-ICB Location (SICBL) of BNF 4.1.1 – Hypnotics.

The total patient list size for each SICBL is also included.

Caveats

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 Year 2023

Organisation Data:

For Part 1 and Part 2, the data is at national level. Items that were prescribed in England and dispensed in the community. Part 3 shown at SICBL (previously CCG) level.

This dataset:

Is for BNF 4.1.1 Hypnotics. These medicines are classified by their primary therapeutic indication. However, it is possible that they can be prescribed or other reasons outside of this primary therapeutic indication. The clinical indication of a prescription is not captured by NHSBSA during processing, and therefore we cannot determine the reason that a prescription was issued.

Items:

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

Net ingredient Cost (£)

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 Community Pharmacy England the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price.

Age:

Patients for whom no age is recorded is listed as age 'UNKNOWN'

List Size:

The number of patients registered with the practice. List size is recorded monthly, and at practice level. The list size for this data set is calculated as the average total list size for each SICBL within the year.

Patient Identification:

Where patient identifiable figures have been reported they are based on the information captured during the prescription processing activities. Please note, patient details cannot be captured from every prescription form and based on the criteria used for this analysis, patient information (NHS number) was available for 99.40% of prescription items. The patient count figures are based on a distinct count of NHS number as captured from the prescription image.

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 presentations.

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-02100