Request

Please provide me with the following information either in whole or where the data are not available, in part:

1. The total number of Pharmacy First consultations by month where the presenting complaint was sore throat as defined by the service specification for the period 31 January 2024 to 30 August 2024 (or the last available data at the time of this request)

2. The total number of consultations by month broken down by the FeverPain or CENTOR score for each patient presenting as recorded by the pharmacy

3. Of 1, the total number of consultations by month in which a course of antibiotics was supplied and

4. Of 2, the total number of consultations by month in which a course of antibiotics was supplied broken down by FeverPain or CENTOR score for each patient presenting.

Response

Question 2 and 4

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority. The NHSBSA does not capture the FeverPain or CENTOR scores.

Question 1 and 3

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.

Number of Pharmacy First Clinical Pathway consultations for Acute Sore Throat by ICB and, of those, the number of consultations where an item from BNF Section 0501: Antibacterial drugs was dispensed

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: February 2024 – July 2024 (data is aggregated monthly)

Organisation Data: Consultations and dispensing in England by Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Data: This data is restricted to those consultations for the named condition of Acute Sore Throat under the Pharmacy First Clinical Pathway service in England since its inception.

More information on Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways consultations can found in the Drug Tariff Part VIC Advanced Services – NHS Electronic Drug Tariff (nhsbsa.nhs.uk) The dispensed items are restricted to those from BNF Section (0501): Antibacterial drugs.

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

BNF: The BNF Code is a 15-digit code in which the first seven digits are allocated according to the categories in the BNF and the last 8 digits represent the medicinal product, form, strength and the link to the generic equivalent product. NHS Prescription Services has created pseudo BNF chapters, which are not published, for items not included in BNF chapters 1 to 15. The majority of such items are dressings and appliances which NHS Prescription Services has classified into four pseudo BNF chapters (20 to 23).

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data. 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: “ePACT2, 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.