Prescribing data for March 2025 - April 2025

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Please read the notes to ensure your 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. 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

Data in ePACT2 is sourced from the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse and is derived from products prescribed on prescriptions and dispensed in the Community. 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.

Dataset

This dataset shows number of items per presentation for private prescriptions of CNS stimulants and drugs used for ADHD. The chemical substance and code have been included for information.

Time Period

Monthly data – March 2025 - April 2025 (latest month available).

Organisation Data

Data for private unlicensed prescriptions is limited to prescriptions prescribed in England and dispensed in the community. Prescribing ICB (Integrated Care Board) is also indicated.

BNF Code

The British National Formulary (BNF) Code is a 15-digit code in which the first seven digits are allocated according to the BNF categories and the last eight digits represent the medicinal product, form, strength and the link to the generic equivalent product.

Items

This shows the number of times a product appears on a prescription form, not the quantity prescribed.

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