Request

Under the current FOI Act, can you please supply me with the number of prescriptions, as well as a percentage of the whole, submitted and fulfilled by people over the age of 60 but, under the age of 66 for the most up-to-date and relevant 12 month rolling period e.g. and auditable 12 consecutive month period. Thank you.

On 5 May 2022 the following was clarified:

Items - The number of times a product appears on a prescription form. If by this you mean that, for example, there were a total of 100 prescription forms and, each one had 3 items on it, therefore the total number is 300 prescriptions then, this is the information I would like. (Failing this, then the number of prescription form submitted either electronically or paper).

Regarding the age request, it was more specific than that which you mentioned. I would like the information relating to those over 60 years of age BUT under the age of 66 i.e.age 60-66 only. If this is not a range you gather information for (and you really should do!) then your best estimate will do for what I need and, any mention of this figure between myself and anyone else, I will make it abundantly clear that this is not an auditable figure as it is not a measure currently tracked.

Response

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.

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 April 2021 to March 2022 - the latest 12 months of data held

Drugs No limitations have been placed on drugs

Organisation Data
Prescribing is limited to prescribing in England only.

Patient age Patient age is not always captured on prescriptions during processing.
• Column heading items_60_to_65 o The sum of items for prescriptions with a captured age including 60,61,62,63,64 and 65.

• Column heading per_cent_60_to_65_of_age_identified_items o The sum of items for prescriptions with a captured age including 60,61,62,63,64 and 65 divided by the sum of items where an age was captured during prescription processing.

• Column heading per_cent_60_to_65_of_age_identified_items o The sum of items for prescriptions with a captured age including 60,61,62,63,64 and 65 divided by the sum of items regardless of if an age was captured during prescription processing.

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

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, 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.

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