Request

‘Is information around Source of Referral available for Pharmacy data such as the Discharge Medicines Service? I would like it on a monthly basis if possible.’

Following an exchange of e-mails, you clarified your request as follows:

This is related to the services listed in Dispensing Pharmacy Data (https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/prescription-data/dispensing-data/dispensing-contractors-data) It would be good if it covered the same date range as the data available on the web page i.e. from Jan 2020. If not, then as far back as you can please. All Pharmacies please. Individual pharmacy level please By pharmacy, year and month Per service/condition please Year, Month, Source of referral name, Source of Referral ODS Code, ODS Type, Provider Name, Provider Code, Provider Type, Service Name, Referral Count I’m happy if you want to include the services and referral counts as columns Please list the ODS codes per referral. I can link to the details. Please exclude LFD if you only have summary information. Please derive from the actual activity.

Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information. However, the data is too large to send via email. Please visit the open data portal on the below link to receive a copy of this information. https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02304

Fewer Than 5 Pharmacy First Consultations

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the practice details where the total number of Pharmacy First consultations, in any given row of data, falls below 5. This is because the patients could be identified, when combined with other information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available.

This information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as:

a) it is not fair to disclose patients personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress.

b) these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the patients.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40

Where the number of consultations falls below 5, this has been replaced with a * symbol.

Breach of Patient confidentiality

Please note that the identification of patients is also a breach of the common law duty of confidence. A patient who has been identified could make a claim against the NHSBSA for the disclosure of the confidential information.

The information requested is therefore being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 41(1) ‘Information provided in confidence’ of the Freedom of Information Act.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/41

Remaining Data

Data Source: MYS (Manage Your Service) data, as held in the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse

Time Period: Data shown for period January 2020 to August 2024 inclusive. Months are derived from the date of assessment under each service.

Services Included

This data contains information on referral sources for the following Services under the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).

Pharmacy Contraception Service Hypertension Case Finding Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways Pharmacy First Urgent Medicines Service Pharmacy First Minor Illness Service Smoking Cessation Service Discharge Medicines Service

Services excluded

The following services are not included in the data, as these services are not subject to referral.

Flu Vaccination Service Appliance Use Review (AUR) Stoma Appliance Customisation (SAC) New Medicine Service (NMS)

The following services are subject to referral, but do we do not capture the specific referring organisation, only the category of referring organisation, such as GP, Pharmacy etc.

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) Community Pharmacy Clinic Blood Pressure checks

If you require these broken down by referral organisation category, please let us know.

For Community Pharmacy Hepatitis C Antibody Testing Service, we do not capture or hold any referral information.

Month

The month in which the assessment took place.

Referral_Source

The referral pathway as recorded against the assessment; where blank, no data has been captured. For Discharge Medicines Service, the referral source is always Hospital/secondary care setting.

Referring_Organisation_Name

The name of the referring organisation, as derived from NHSBSA organisation using the ODS code captured on the assessment record.

Referring_Organisation_ODS_Code

The ODS code for the referring organisation, as captured on the assessment record. This data may be unvalidated at source (see Note on ODS Validation below).

Referring_Organisation_Type

The type of the referring organisation, as derived from NHSBSA organisation data using the ODS code captured on the assessment record.

Provider_Name

The name of the service provider, as derived from NHSBSA organisation data using the ODS code captured on the assessment record.

Provider_ODS_Code

The ODS code for the service provider, as captured on the assessment record.

Provider_Type

The type of the service provider, as derived from NHSBSA organisation data using the ODS code captured on the assessment record.

Service_Name

The name of the service.

PF_Clinical_Pathway

For Pharmacy First - Clinical Pathways assessment records only, the clinical pathway against which the assessment has been recorded.

Number_of_Assessments

The total number of assessments for the criteria above.

ODS Validation

For pharmacy services, the contractor enters data into the MYS system via a pharmacy IT system. These systems are not developed or managed by NHSBSA, so NHSBSA are unable to state with certainty whether the data on Referring_Organisation_ODS_Code has been validated or is correct at the point of entry. Mappings to NHSBSA organisation data are undertaken on a 'best endeavours' basis, based upon the referrer ODS codes as captured at the point of assessment. No guarantees are provided on the completeness or accuracy of this data. Where referrer organisation names or types are blank, either no data was captured during the assessment, or the data captured cannot be linked back to the NHSBSA organisation data. At user's own risk, further mapping may be undertaken using data available from ODS Data Search and Export https://www.odsdatasearchandexport.nhs.uk/

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-02304