Request

You asked us:

Can I request the information previously supplied under FOI Request FOI-01897 but for the period March 2024 to the most recent month where this data is available?

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 27 January 2025.

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

Our response

March to September 2024

Under Section 21 of the FOIA we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

The information you requested is available at the following web link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02368

Please see the following link to view the section 21 in full:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/21

Remaining Information

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data. 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

The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.

Exclusions

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

All prescribing from April 2015 – September 2024 was used to find prior prescribing, with first prescribing data between October 2024 and November 2024

Organisation Data

The data is for prescriptions dispensed in the community in England.

BNF Code

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).

Drugs and appliances

Limited to BNF Codes beginning with 2128, Anal Irrigation System

Only for the first prescription issued to a patient who have never received a prescription for any of these items in any other time periods

The NHSBSA does not hold data showing a patient’s first prescribing of a given drug. This has been calculated by excluding all patients with prescribing in BNF Codes beginning with 2128 in the data Warehouse prior to October 2024. Patients first prescribing has been found using the prescribed date recorded on a prescription. If this has not been captured during processing (usually on a paper prescription) then the end of the month the prescription was claimed to be dispensed in is used. For a further tie break the first prescription is chosen by internal alphanumeric coding for prescriber, then dispenser, then drug/appliance name. From this the first prescribing the prescriber, dispenser and drug are shown.

Please note that if a patient has received more than one prescription for the same presentation in the same period from the same practice and dispenser, each of these prescriptions would be included.

Identified Patients

Prescriptions are only included in the data if an NHS number was captured during processing so patients with prescribing prior to September 2024 can be excluded. For the whole time period, 91.53% of items on prescriptions within the limits of the dataset had an identified patient. For the data from October 2024, 97.71% of items on prescriptions had an identified patient.

Total Quantity

Total quantity is the number of items multiplied by the quantity prescribed. e.g. 2 items prescribed, one with a quantity of 2 and one with a quantity of 3, the total quantity would show as 5 (1 item x quantity of 2) + (1 item x quantity of 3)

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 the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price.

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: “Data Warehouse, NHSBSA Copyright 2025” 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.