Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘Please could I place a new freedom of information request for an update on information that was provided previously for the most up to date data you have, ideally to year end 2024, but to the latest data available.

I have the previous data so you don’t need to include the old data unless you notice any discrepancies/updated figures

It is a rerun of FOI 01369, unique female patients each year who are prescribed Testosterone, and possibly a monthly count of new patients being prescribed testosterone if that’s feasible but don’t include that if its too much work.

I believe the data was run annually previously because if patients aren’t prescribed monthly it can be difficult to understand the total number of unique women on treatment.

If you’re able to include age bands that could be useful also.’

[On 19 February 2025 you clarified your request as follows]

‘Please could you use your standard 5 year age bands, e.g.:

Aged under 4

Aged 5-9

Aged 10-14

Aged 15-19

Aged 20-24

Aged 25-29

Aged 30-34

Aged 35-39

Aged 40-44

Aged 45-49

Aged 50-54

Aged 55-59

Aged 60-64

Aged 65-69

Aged 70-74

Aged 75-79

Aged 80+’

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 14 February 2025, with clarification received on 19 February 2025.

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

Our response

I can confirm that the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) holds the information you have requested, and a copy of the information is attached.

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

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 one 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 (DHSC) 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.

This dataset shows the number of unique female patients prescribed at least one item of testosterone in BNF paragraph 0604020.

BNF Chemical Substances included are:

Testosterone 0604020K0

Testosterone enantate BNF 0604020M0

Testosterone propionate BNF 0604020P0

Testosterone undecanoate BNF 0604020T0

Testosterone esters BNF 0604020U0

Age Bands

Age bands included are for those female patients aged 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80+.

Time Period

Calendar years 2023 to 2024.

Organisation Data

The data is for prescriptions prescribed in England regardless of where it is dispensed in the community.

Gender

Patient gender has been reported using the latest patient gender information held by the NHSBSA Information Services data warehouse at the time that the data was extracted. This uses information from either the most recent Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) message or from the last time that NHSBSA received data about the patient's gender from NHS Personal Demographics Service. 

Gender is either:

Male

Female

Not known (where no information is held)

Indeterminate (where information is held which does not confirm either male or female). 

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 age was captured for 99.99% of prescription items.

The unique patient count figures are based on a distinct count of NHS number as captured from the prescription image.

The figures for the number of identifiable patients should not be combined and reported at any other level than provided as this may result in the double-counting of patients. For example, a single patient could appear in the results for multiple calendar years.

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data, please contact foidata@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring that 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 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.