Request

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Following on from a previous Freedom of Information request (FOI-02154 https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02154), please can you provide me with the data you hold on drugs supplied under a Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP) up to the latest available date, broken down by month supplied, individual drug presentations and including the numbers of each presentation supplied.

Ideally the data would cover the dates no included in previous releases. Therefore from June 2024 to latest available date.

Response

I can confirm that we hold the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached.

Please read the 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 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

The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.

Contents

The data shows the number of prescription items and total quantity for medicines that have been dispensed under an Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP) by dispensers in England, in the period July 2024 to December 2024 inclusive.

The data is limited to prescription items where an SSP payment has been made to the dispenser by NHSBSA.

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.

Organisation Data

Only items that were dispensed in the community in England have been included.

Time Period

The time period covered in this data is July 2024 to December 2024 inclusive.

The data for June 2024 was supplied in the previous response pertaining to this request (FOI-02154), so has not been included here. https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02154

Drugs

The drugs shown in the data are those for which a (SSP) payment was made.

Please note that:

• the drugs given are those dispensed

• we do not hold data on which drug was prescribed for items where a SSP payment was made.

• we do not hold information on which SSP an item was claimed against; some medicines may be specified under multiple SSPs.

BNF Code

The British National Formulary (BNF) Code is a 15-digit code in which the first seven digits are allocated according to BNF categories, and the last eight 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).

Items

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

Total Quantity

Total Quantity is the number of items multiplied by the quantity prescribed. For example, 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)

Please note that there is no record of which SSP each item was claimed against. You can find a list of active and expired SSPs on our website.

Prescription data accuracy

For detailed explanation of data accuracy, please see Prescription Payment Processing Accuracy - https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pharmacies-gp-practices-and-appliance-contractors/payments-and-pricing/how-we-process-prescriptions#:~:text=Prescription%20Processing%20Payment%20Accuracy%20(PPPA)&text=to%20dispensing%20contractors.-,It%20measures%20the%20number%20of%20items%20sampled%20that%20were%20processed,should%20be%20processed%20financially%20accurate

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: “NHSBSA Information Services 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.