Request

Please provide monthly figures for prescribing and spending on antibacterial items (as per BNF Chapter 5.1) across NHS England for the period 01/01/2020 to 31/12/2023 as number of antibiotic items and net ingredient costs.

Please also provide the figures for: primary care/SICBLs, dentists, hospital trusts, and other providers.

In other words, I am seeking a full set of the data which are presented on a rolling basis in ePACT2's antimicrobial stewardship dashboard.

On 22 August 2024 you clarified the following:

I don't need a full breakdown of everything underpinning e-PACT2, although if that's easier for you to provide then I'll happily accept the full dataset. Really, I just need monthly totals for 'number of antibiotic items' and 'NIC' during the period requested for each of primary care, dentistry, hospitals and other.

In other words: • Number of antibiotic items and NIC for Primary Care in {each month} • Number of antibiotics items and NIC for Dentistry in {each month} • etc Put another way, if you hover over each the point on the graphs in the e-PACT 2 AMS dashboard it gives figures for numbers of items and NIC. It's these figures but for the full time period which I'm seeking.

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.

Part 1

Number of items and NIC (£) for Antibacterial Drugs (BNF Section 0501) prescribed in England

Part 2

Number of items and NIC (£) for Antibacterial Drugs (BNF Section 0501) prescribed by SICBL's in England

Part 3

Number of items and NIC (£) for Antibacterial Drugs (BNF Section 0501) prescribed by Hospital Trusts in England (dispensed in the community only)

Part 4

Number of items and NIC (£) for Antibacterial Drugs (BNF Section 0501) prescribed by Dentists in England

Part 5

Number of items and NIC (£) for Antibacterial Drugs (BNF Section 0501) prescribed by Other Providers in England

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: January 2020-December 2023 (all data is aggregated monthly)

Organisation Data: For all parts of FOI, the data is limited to items that were prescribed in England and dispensed within the community.

This dataset:

The data provides a summary of items prescribed and net ingredient costs for Antibacterial Drugs (BNF Section 5.1), based on parameters used for the National Breakdown available within the Antimicrobial Stewardship dashboard within ePact2

(https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/access-our-data-products/epact2/dashboards-and-specifications/antimicrobial-stewardship).

To replicate the dashboard, the data is split into five parts to reflect prescribing involving different organisational types.

Please note- ‘Other Providers’ includes prescribing attributed to organisations such as County Councils and Hospice Prescribing.

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

Net Ingredient Cost (NIC(£)): 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.

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-02152