Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information for the years available 2000-2025:

1. The number of young women under 25 who were prescribed hormonal contraceptives (e.g., combined oral contraceptive pill, progestin-only pill).

2. Of these, how many prescriptions were recorded as being issued for non-contraceptive medical reasons, such as:

• Acne

• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

• Endometriosis

• Irregular or heavy menstruation

• Other gynaecological indications

3. If possible, please provide:

• A breakdown by age group (e.g., under 16, 16–18, 19–25)

• Any regional or prescribing setting breakdown (e.g., GP vs pharmacy)’

On 15 May 2025 you clarified the following:

Time Period

Please present the data by financial year, from April 2015 onwards.

Question 1 – BNF Sub-Paragraphs

Yes, that is correct – I would like data on the number of relevant patients under the age of 25 prescribed presentations within:

Additionally, please include BNF 0703050 (Emergency Contraception) in the data.

Question 2 – Clinical Indication

Understood – thank you for confirming that this information is not held.

Question 3 – Age Bands

Please use the final age band as 19–24

Regional Breakdown

Please provide the data aggregated by the 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).

Prescribing Setting

Yes, your interpretation is correct. Please aggregate the patient counts by prescriber sub-type (doctor, nurse, pharmacist, etc.).

Response

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

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.

Time Period

April 2015 - March 2025, presented as financial years.

Patients

Prescriptions are only considered if an NHS Number, age, and gender has been captured during NHSBSA processing. 96.88% of items on prescriptions within the limits of the dataset had an identified patient, with a recorded age and gender.

Age

Patient age is calculated at the point of prescribing. Patients with an unknown age have been excluded. Patients may appear in multiple age bands across a year.

Gender

Limited to patients whose gender is recorded in the NHSBSA's copy of the Patient Demographics Service (PDS) data as 'Female'.

Organisation Data

The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed in England, presented at ICB level. Prior to, and including, the financial year 2020/2021, the dataset also shows some area teams.

Drugs

Limited to the following BNF Chapters:

070301 – Combined Hormonal Contraceptives

070302 – Progestogen-Only Contraceptives

070305 – Emergency Contraception

Sub-Prescriber Type

Patients may appear in multiple groups if they received the specified medication from multiple prescribing sources.

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.

• Items supplied as part of a Pharmacy First consultation or service.

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” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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.