Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

‘Please provide, under the Freedom of Information provisions, the number of and associated Net Ingredient Cost of prescription items dispensed in English community pharmacies where they have been prescribed i) in hospitals (including outpatients), ii) in prisons, or iii) in MOD establishments.

Please provide this in an Excel compatible file, separately showing the number of prescription items and associated Net Ingredient Cost for the three different prescribing sources by month for the period from January 2024 up to the latest month you have priced. Thanks for this.’

[On 12 May 2025 we sent you the following clarification request]

We hold no data regarding items dispensed in English community pharmacies, prescribed by MOD establishments. We do hold data for MOD items prescribed and dispensed at MOD locations (on FMED forms).

Can you please confirm if you would like us to proceed with your request providing the number of, and associated Net Ingredient Cost, prescription items dispensed in English community pharmacies prescribed in hospitals and prisons separately, by month and for the requested time period?

[On 12 May 2025 you clarified your request as follows]

In terms of the request regarding hospitals and prisons, please could you proceed with providing this information.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 7 May 2025, with clarification received on 12 May 2025.

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

Our response

Ministry of Defence (MOD) Prescriptions

I am writing to advise you that the information you requested is not held by the NHSBSA. Upon further review, we have confirmed that Ministry of Defence (MOD) holds information on MOD prescriptions, and they are responsible for handling FOIA requests for that information. I apologise that we misinformed you about this when we wrote to you on 12 May. Currently no prescriptions prescribed by MOD are dispensed in the community, i.e. FP10s.

We have provided MOD’s contact details below:

MOD Information Rights Team Ground Floor, Zone D Main Building Whitehall London

SW1A 2HB

Email: CIO-FOI@mod.gov.uk

Hospital/Prison Prescriptions

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.

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 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

Aggregated monthly data for January 2024 to March 2025. March 2025 is currently the most recent month of prescribing data available.

Organisation Data

The data is for items prescribed in Prisons or within Hospital Trusts anywhere in the UK and dispensed by English Pharmacy Contractors within the community setting.

Items

Shows the number of times a product appears on a prescription form not the quantity prescribed.

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 Community Pharmacy England 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: “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.