Request

Following receipt of my FOI request 19183 in December 2021, can you now provide me with an updated spread sheet for the period October 2021 through to December 2021, by month, in the same format as previously supplied for all the dispensing appliance contractor ODS codes.

Response

A copy of the information is attached.

The time period covered October 2021 to December 2021.

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.

The data provided is based on England Community Dispensing by Appliance Contractors only and may include items prescribed in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man which have been dispensed in England.

The data excludes items prescribed in England but dispensed in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Isle of Man.

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.

Information which is supplied by NHS England Areas regarding Contractor details is held on a database. The contractor details are provided to NHSBSA Prescription Services to produce the submission documents for contractors to send in their prescriptions each month. The data is then processed and used to make payments to contractors. The contractor details are also sent to external partners Organisation Data Service (ODS) and NHS Choices.

The Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) is the basic price of a drug 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. This NIC field includes broken bulk and so more correctly reflects what was paid to the contractor rather than the exact reimbursement cost of the drugs.

Overall Amount Paid: This is the final total payment made to the contractor by the NHSBSA which includes any fees paid in addition to the reimbursement cost of items. This value will include all of the other listed payments made against the contractor as well as other payments which have not been detailed in this breakdown.

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

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-23372

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: “NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse and the NHSBSA DPC Database, 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.