Thank you for your request for information about the following:

‘Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am requesting the following information on the prescribing of benzodiazepines in England: Please provide the following data regarding the prescribing of benzodiazepines (BNF Section: Hypnotics and anxiolytics, Code: 0401) in England:

• Number of patients prescribed benzodiazepines (diazepam, alprazolam, clobazam, clonazepam, flurazepam, chlordiazepoxide, loprazolam, lorazepam, lormetazepam, nitrazepam, oxazepam and temazepam) between January 2015 and July 2022 broken down by:

o Age group (0-17 years, 18-64 years, 65+ years)

o Gender (Male and Female) Please provide the information by email.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request. If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined I would be grateful for any further advice and assistance. If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or phone and I will be very happy to clarify what I am asking for and discuss the request, my details are outlined below. Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response within 20 working days. If you could please send an acknowledgement on receiving my request that would be much appreciated.

On 15 September 2022 you clarified your request as follows

I am only interested in those in the benzodiazepines that come under the code 0401 Hypnotics and anxiolytics:

Flurazepam hydrochloride

Loprazolam mesilate

Lormetazepam

Nitrazepam

Temazepam

Alprazolam

Chlordiazepoxide hydrochloride

Diazepam

Lorazepam

Oxazepam’

Your clarified request was received on 15 September 2022 and has been dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Response

A copy of the information is attached.

Data Source

NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse

Time Period

January 2015 to July 2022 inclusive.

Contents

Number of patients prescribed benzodiazepines (diazepam, alprazolam, clobazam, clonazepam, flurazepam, chlordiazepoxide, loprazolam, lorazepam, lormetazepam, nitrazepam, oxazepam and temazepam) between January 2015 and July 2022 broken down by:

o Age group (0-17 years, 18-64 years, 65+ years)

o Gender (Male and Female)

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.

Time Period

January 2015 to July 2022.

Prescribing Organisation

Limited to prescribing in England, in any setting.

Dispensing Organisation

No limits on dispensing organisation.

Medicines

Limited to prescribing of requested chemical substance benzodiazepines that come under the BNF section 0401 Hypnotics and anxiolytics.

Patient Age Band

Age band is based on patient age as captured during prescription processing. Where a patient has aged between the age bands across the period, they will appear in both categories.

Patient Gender

Gender is shown as captured at the time of processing. Where a patient has more than one recorded gender across the period they will appear in more than one category.

Patients who could not be identified by means of a valid NHS number on the prescription form are not included in this analysis, this analysis accounts for 90.74% of items prescribed in the period.

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.

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.