Request

You asked us:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I was wondering if you would be able to develop on top of the FOI Request FOI-01537, FOI-01681, FOI-01795 , FOI-01900, FOI-01931, FOI-02008, FOI-02060, FOI-02143, FOI-02299, FOI-02381, FOI-02530, FOI-02605, FOI-02792, FOI-2846 and FOI-02996.

BNF Chapter 20-22 and Chapter 23:
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01537 (April 2023 - September 2023)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01681 (October 2023 - November 2023)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01795 (December 2023 - January 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01900 (February 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01931 (January 2024 - March 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02008 (April 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02060 (May 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02143 (June 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02299 (July 2024 - August 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02381 (September 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02530 (October 2024 - November 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02605 (December 2024)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02792 (January 2025 - February 2025)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02846 (March 2025)
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02996 (April 2025)

The data in these requests were from the data source ‘NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse’ with the Columns YEAR_MONTH, PRACTICE_CODE, DISPENSER_CODE, BNF_CHAPTER_CODE, BNF_CODE, PRODUCT_ORDER_NUMBER, PACK_ORDER_NUMBER, EPD_BNF_20_21_22, EPD_BNF_23, AC_FLAG, ENG_PRESC_BNF20_23, NIC_GBP, ITEMS and TOTAL_QUANTITY.

Would it be possible for the data to be limited to prescribing within BNF Chapter 20 - Dressings, Chapter 21 – Appliances and Chapter 22 – Incontinence Appliances, Chapter 23 - Stoma Appliances, limited to England, Wales, Scotland, Guernsey, Alderney, Jersey, and the Isle of Man.

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.

Could we have the same caveats so that the data matches with the English Prescribing Dataset (EPD).

Would it be possible to have the data in the same format for May and June 2025 please?

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 24 September 2025.

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

Our response

Under Section 21 of the FOIA we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

The information you requested is available from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Open Data Portal (ODP).

Please see the following link to view the section 21 in full - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/21

Advice and assistance

You can access this information through the following link.

FOI-03129 - Datasets - Open Data Portal

Publishing this response

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-03204

Your personal details will be removed from the published response.