Request

I am writing with regard to a Freedom of Information request which you kindly dealt with for us. I would like to make a new request under the Freedom of Information Act, for the following data: The reference number for the previous request is 21268 and is regarding the FP10 dispensing data from ePACT2 at presentation level.
We would like to request the same information in the same format for the month of December 2021.

Response

A copy of the information is attached.

The time period - covered is December 2021 dispensed prescriptions (inclusive).

Data - This information is derived from products prescribed on NHS prescriptions and dispensed in the community. The data retrieved from these prescriptions is processed to capture the Prescriber, drugs and drug costs before being summarised where applicable and then held on a database.

Please note this means that if a prescription was issued, but not presented for dispensing or was not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser, then it is not included in the data provided.

*The data is restricted to items dispensed in England split by dispensing organisation.

Drugs which have been flagged in our database as a "controlled drug" have been excluded from this dataset for information security reasons to prevent the identification of organisations with high levels of controlled drug dispensing.

The data excludes items:

*not dispensed, disallowed and those returned for further clarification, 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.

Definitions

*The bnf_code is a 15 digit code in which the first seven digits are allocated according to the categories in the BNF and the last 8 digits represent the medicinal product, form, strength and the link to the generic equivalent product.

*The NHS Prescription Services has created pseudo BNF chapters, which are not published, for items not included in BNF chapters 1 to 15.

*The majority of such items are dressings and appliances, which the NHS Prescription Services has classified into four pseudo BNF chapters (20 to 23).

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

Quantity - normally shows the quantity of a product prescribed. However, where a product is packed in a 'special container'(see Drug Tariff Part II Clause 10) the pharmacist is not required to split the pack and may supply the number of containers or original packs which provide the quantity nearest to that prescribed. In some circumstances these items show quantity as the number of units supplied i.e. 1 or 2 even though a pack may contain 56 tablets. .

Net Ingredient Cost GBP - the basic price of a drug (in GBP) as stated in Part II Clause 8 of the Drug Tariff but please note that where a price concession for items listed in Part VIIIA of the Drug Tariff has been agreed between the Department of Health and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price.

Please note that this request and our response is published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-23316

Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact dataandinsightsupport@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 nhsbsa.communicationsteam@nhs.net. 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: “Data Warehouse, NHSBSA Copyright 2022” 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.