Request

I recently received a FOI response 24441 which contained information on stoma patients using pouches.

I would like to receive the same format for Catheters, Drug tariff segment 2102 Catheters.

I have attached a spreadsheet which details the codes that are in this segment split to show indwelling catheters and Intermittent catheters.

Could you send the information at the total level as well as split using the codes I have detailed, this will allow me to see the following

• Total patients in 2021 for Catheters

• If a patient has used both types a sub total

• Total patients for indwelling catheter patients

• Total patients for Intermittent patients

• Total New patients in 2020 and 2021

• Indwelling new patients 2020 and 2021

• Intermittent new patients 2020 and 2021

On the 7 September 2022 you clarified the following:

Yes Foley are indwelling and ISC are intermittent.

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

Answers are based on January 2020 to December 2021 data For first prescribing data is taken from all data held in the data warehouse, the first prescribing in the data warehouse for the described BNF sections with an identified patient is April 2015. Patients may have had prescribing prior to this but the data is not available prior to this point.

Data is limited to prescriptions where an NHS Number was captured during NHSBSA prescription processing, the following shows the percentages of prescriptions with an identified NHS Number per calendar year:

2015 69.63

2016 93.29

2017 93.56

2018 93.74

2019 93.48

2020 94.22

2021 94.88

2022 94.84

Drugs

Limited to the following BNF sections;

2102 Catheters

Based on the data provided by the requestor, catheters are classified into one of three categories: Intermittent, Indwelling or Unclassified (Unclassified meaning a catheter is present in BNF section 2012 but a classification has not been provided by the requestor)

Organisation Data

Only items that were dispensed in the community in England have been included

Questions are answered in separated csv as follows

FOI27622_2021_Patient_Counts:

Total patients in 2021 for Catheters If a patient has used both types a sub total Total patients for indwelling catheter patients Total patients for Intermittent patients

Note patients may be in more than one catheter classification if they have prescribing in more than one. The Total patients data gives the unique patient count for patients in any of the catheter classifications

FOI27622_2020_2021_New_Patients:

Total New patients in 2020 and 2021 Indwelling new patients 2020 and 2021 Intermittent new patients 2020 and 2021

Within the limitations of the data described above (i.e. this is the first known prescribing after April 2015) the data has been given in two ways, either split by catheter classification or across all catheters.

For example, this means if a patient is counted in 'Indwelling' they have had no prescribing in this classification (where their NHS number has been recorded on a prescription form) between April 2015 and December 2020 inclusive and do have prescribing in Indwelling in the 2021 calendar year. If the patient had no prescribing in any of the classifications (where their NHS number has been recorded on a prescription form) between April 2015 and December 2020 inclusive and do have prescribing in any of the classifications in the 2021 calendar year then they are counted in the Total New Patients data.

Note patients may be in more than one classification if they have prescribing in more than one. The total new patients data gives the unique patient count for patients in any of the classifications.

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data, please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@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.

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.