Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Dear Sir / Madam, Please may I request the following information under Freedom of Information. The number of antibacterial drug items, as outlined in section 5.1 of the British National Formulary, that were prescribed by NHS general dental practitioners and dispensed in the community in England for financial years 2008/09 through 2021/22 (i.e., 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2022, inclusive). Please may this information be presented as the following antibacterial drug items (related BNF codes) and the corresponding number of items that were prescribed each month:

Amoxicillin (0501013B0)

Phenoxymethylpenicillin (0501011P0)

Co-amoxiclav (0501013K0) Metronidazole (0501110C0)

Erythromycin (0501050C0)

Erythromycin ethylsuccinate (0501050H0)

Erythromycin stearate (0501050N0)

Azithromycin (0501050A0)

Clarithromycin (0501050B0)

Cefalexin (0501021L0)

Cefradine (0501021M0)

Clindamycin hydrochloride (0501060D0)

Tetracycline (0501030V0)

Oxytetracycline (0501030T0)

Doxycycline hyclate (0501030I0)

I wound be grateful if this data could be provided electronically. Thank you

On 12 September 2022 you clarified your request as follows: ''Regarding your request for clarification, information from April 2014 (monthly totals) at drug level would be helpful, please.''

Your request was received on 12 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.

NHSBSA: 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: ePACT2. Data in ePACT2 is sourced from the NHSBSA Data Warehouse and is derived from products prescribed on prescriptions and dispensed in the Community. The data captured from prescription processing is used to calculate reimbursement and remuneration. It includes items prescribed in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Guernsey / Alderney, Jersey and Isle of Man which have been dispensed in the community in England. English prescribing that has been dispensed in Wales, Scotland, Guernsey / Alderney, Jersey and Isle of Man is also included.

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 2014 – March 2022 (monthly data)

Organisation Data

The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed by dentists and dispensed in the community in England.
Please note there may be some Welsh prescribing included in the data.

Data

The data provided is limited to dental prescribing of antibacterial drugs BNF section 0501 for the below chemical substance.

BNF Code , BNF Chemical Substance

0501011P0 , Phenoxymethylpenicillin (Penicillin V)

0501013B0 , Amoxicillin

0501013K0 , Co-amoxiclav (Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid)

0501021L0 , Cefalexin

0501021M0 , Cefradine

0501030I0 , Doxycycline hyclate

0501030T0 , Oxytetracycline

0501030V0 , Tetracycline

0501050A0 , Azithromycin

0501050B0 , Clarithromycin

0501050C0 , Erythromycin

0501050H0 , Erythromycin ethylsuccinate

0501050N0 , Erythromycin stearate

0501060D0 , Clindamycin hydrochloride

0501110C0 , Metronidazole

Please note

BNF 0501030Z0 Doxycycline monohydrate has been included for completeness of data for antibacterial drugs BNF section 0501.

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 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: “ePACT2, 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.