Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘Can you please provide me with the following information:

For BNF segment 21.27 Lymphoedema the number of unique patients who had a prescription fulfilled for a code in this BNF segment in the periods April to March 2023 and separately for April to March 2024. Please only count the patient once even if they have multiple prescriptions.

Also for BNF segment 21.7 Elastic Hosiery the number of unique patients who had a prescription fulfilled for a code in this BNF segment in the periods April to March 2023 and separately for April to March 2024. Please only count the patient once even if they have multiple prescriptions.’

[On 21 August 2024 we sent you the following clarification request]

Can you please confirm the time frame for your request? Do you require April 2022 to March 2023 and April 2023 to March 2024?

Would you like to receive the data broken down monthly or yearly?

Can you also please confirm if you would like data for prescriptions which are prescribed in England and dispensed in England or prescribed anywhere and dispensed in England?

[On 22 August 2024 you clarified your request as follows]

‘Yes please

Yearly would be fine

Prescribed in England and dispensed in England please’

[On 30 August 2024 you sent the following request]

‘Apologies, I meant to add I would like the data at ICB and SUB ICB level as well please.’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 19 August 2024, with clarification received on 22 August 2024.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

Our 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.

Please note it is not possible to get a unique patient count at SICBL level so only a unique patient count at ICB level has been included.

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.

Time Period

April 2022 to March 2024 (data is aggregated by financial year for 2022/2023 and 2023/2024)

Organisation Data

The dataset only includes appliances that were both prescribed and dispensed within the community in England.

This dataset

The data provides a unique identifiable patient count, split by ICB, for individuals prescribed any appliance listed under either BNF Section 2107 (Elastic Hosiery) or any appliance listed under BNF Section 2127 (Lymphoedema Garments).

Note that a patient count is not available at Sub-ICB level (SICBL).

Unidentified Doctors relates to prescription forms which contained a prescriber code that could not be allocated to an ICB. For example, the prescriber code was illegible. This has been included for completeness of data.

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 only available for 88.55% of prescription items.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing, the data please contact foidata@nhsbsa.nhs.ukg you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

Reusing the data and copyright

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: “NHSBSA Copyright 2024” 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.