Request

‘I am looking for the following information:

The number of patients who have been prescribed opioid analgesics nationally for:

o All three months between January 2024 and March 2024 o All six months between October 2023 and March 2024 o All nine months between July 2023 and March 2024 o All 12 months between April 2023 and March 2024 o All 24 months between April 2022 and March 2024

The number of patients who have been prescribed opioid analgesics broken down by ICB for:

o All three months between January 2024 and March 2024 o All six months between October 2023 and March 2024 o All nine months between July 2023 and March 2024 o All 12 months between April 2023 and March 2024 o All 24 months between April 2022 and March 2024

Please would you also confirm the information previously provided in FOI-01329 and FOI-01250 is still correct? If it is no longer correct, please would you provide updated data.’

Response

FOI-01329 and FOI-01250 The data for these FOI requests are still correct.

FOI-01990

A copy of the information is attached.

NHSBSA Prescription Services process prescriptions and information is then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors (in England) for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings. This involves processing approximately 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 users.

Contents: Data on prescribing of drugs in BNF Paragraph 040702 Opioid analgesics or BNF sub-paragraph 1501043 Opioid Analgesics

Time Period: Data covers the period April 2022 to March 2024.

Organisation Level: The data is shown for prescribing in England, organised by ICB. National data is also included, using the pseudo ICB code 'ENG' and ICB Name 'ENGLAND'

Patient counts: Patients have been counted if they have been prescribed for the required consecutive months' within the listed ICB. Patients who could not be identified by means of a valid NHS number on the prescription are excluded. The figures for the number of identifiable patients should not be combined and reported at any other level than provided as this may result in the double-counting of patients. A patient NHS number could be associated with 98.72% of all items in this data set

Drugs: All drugs in BNF Paragraph 040702 Opioid analgesics or BNF sub-paragraph 1501043 Opioid Analgesics

These medicines are classified by their primary therapeutic indication. However, it is possible that they can be prescribed for other reasons outside of this primary therapeutic indication. The clinical indication of a prescription is not captured by NHSBSA during processing, and therefore we cannot determine the reason that a prescription was issued.

Exclusions: The data excludes items dispensed in prisons, hospital and private prescriptions but does include dental, prison and hospital prescriptions which are dispensed in the community. If a prescription was issued, but not presented for dispensing or was not submitted to NHSBSA Prescription Services by the dispenser, then it is not included in the data provided.

Data Queries If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data, please contact foidata@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

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 2024” 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.