Additional Info

Field Value
Data last updated 26 March 2026
Metadata last updated 26 March 2026
Created 26 March 2026
Format text/csv
Licence Open Government Licence 3.0 (United Kingdom)

Data Dictionary

Column Title Type Description
CALENDAR_YEAR Calendar Year number Indicates the relevant calendar year for each row of data.
BNF_CHEMICAL_SUBSTANCE_CODE BNF Chemical Substance Code string The first nine digits of the 15-digit BNF Code, which indicate the chemical substance under which the drug or appliance is categorised.
BNF_CHEMICAL_SUBSTANCE BNF Chemical Substance string This is the International Non-proprietary Name (INN) and is the standard registered name for the active constituent of that medicine, for example omeprazole. For compounds the name may be more complex, such as co-magaldrox magnesium/aluminium hydrox). In some cases the name is a collective one for a range of medicines, such as alginic acid compound preparations. For prescriptions in BNF chapters 19 to 23, there is no "chemical" name, as these are dressings and appliances. Therefore, these items are reported under the BNF section name, for example, night drainage bags.
BNF_PRODUCT_CODE BNF Product Code string The code of the BNF product which may be proprietary or generic.
BNF_PRODUCT_NAME BNF Product Name string The name of the BNF product which may be proprietary or generic.
PATIENT_AGE Age of Patient number The age in years that was captured for the patient when the prescription was processed by NHSBSA for payment.
UNIQUE_PATIENTS Unique Patients number A count of identified patients whose NHS Number was recorded during prescription processing, where each patient is counted once per row in which they appear, regardless of the number of prescriptions matching these criteria.