Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request an update to an FOI file which I believe was previously published by NHSBSA in January 2020 under reference FOI 08913.

That release covered months 2018-10 to 2019-09 and pertained to item counts by prescriber at practice level.

Please supply the same dataset structure for the latest 12 complete data months.

Required fields (same as FOI 08913):

egpcurId

Month

Practice Code

Practice Name

Practice Address 1 … 4

Postcode

Prescriber Code

Prescriber Name

Prescriber Type

Total Paper Items

Total EPS Items

Repeat Paper Items

Repeat EPS Items

Parameters:

• Period: latest 12 months available (e.g. 2024-09 → 2025-08 if processed)

• One row per prescriber per month per practice

• .csv format

Response

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.

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.

This dataset gives details of prescribing of items by individual prescribers each month.

Data Source

The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.

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.

Time period

September 2024 to August 2025 inclusive.

Prescribing and dispensing

The data is limited to items prescribed by GP practices in England. There is no limit on dispensing.

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.