Request

Dear NHSBSA, I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information. Please may you provide me with the following information: 1. The total number of prescriptions for sleeping pills dispensed by NHS trusts in each of the last 10 financial years: 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/2021 2. The total cost of prescriptions for sleeping pills dispensed by NHS trusts in each of the last 10 financial years: 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/2021 3. Can you also please provide me with the total number of prescriptions dispensed by NHS Trusts for each of the following medicines in each of the last 10 financial years (2011/12 - 2020/21): Zoplicone (Zimovane) Zolpidem Zaleplon Circadin Amitriptyline 4. Can you also please provide me with the cost to NHS Trusts for dispensing each of the following medicines in each of the last 10 financial years (2011/12 - 2020/21)? Zoplicone (Zimovane) Zolpidem Zaleplon Circadin Amitriptyline 5. Please can you provide me with a breakdown by English region of the number of prescription sleeping pills dispensed in each of the last 10 financial years (2011/12 to 2020/21) 6. Please can you also provide me with a breakdown by English region of the total cost of prescription sleeping pills in each of the last 10 financial years (2011/12 to 2020/21). 7. If available, please can you also provide me with a percentage breakdown of the reasons why the sleeping pills were prescribed to patients during these years (for example 70% to treat insomnia, 25% for anxiety and 5% for depression)? I would like the information to be emailed to me in electronic form and if you need further clarification please contact me by email.

Response

Questions 1-4

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority.

However it is possible that NHS England and Improvement may hold some or all of the information you require. They can be contacted at:

NHS England

PO Box 16738

Redditch

B97 9PT

Telephone 0300 311 22 33

Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

Web http://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/foi/

Questions 5-6

As questions 5-6 do not mention NHS Trusts, we have interpreted this as meaning prescriptions dispensed in the community, as opposed to dispensing in hospital settings (secondary care). If this was not your intention, and you are still referring to secondary care dispensing, please refer to NHS England as outlined above.

Under Section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

For information (from January 2014) on prescription items dispensed in the community in England which have been submitted to the NHSBSA for reimbursement please see the following web link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/prescription-cost-analysis-pca-annual-statistics

There is a Data Dictionary describing each column of data once you select a time period (at the bottom of the screen)

To view a short video on how to use the Open Data Portal: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/open-data-portal-odp

Please be advised that as the BNF structure does not hold a grouping of drugs named 'sleeping pills' you will need to determine your own list of drugs.

Question 7

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services.

No data is captured relating to the clinical indication a prescription is intended for.