Request

My request relates to prescribing of the cholesterol lowering drug inclisiran. I would like to know please:

1. How many items of inclisiran have been prescribed through primary care since it became available on the NHS?

2. How many patients received at least one prescription for inclisiran through primary care since it became available on the NHS?

3. Please can you provide data for October, November and December 2022, showing the total number of items of Inclisiran prescribed per month?

On 12 January 2023 you clarified the following

Thanks for picking up this request. When I submitted a similar request regarding inclisiran previously I was advised that you don't hold data for prescribing in hospitals. If that is the case then yes please, could your answer to Q3 cover the primary prescribing data for October and November 2022? Not a problem if you don't have December yet.

If you do have data on hospital prescriptions, please could I modify the request to this: Please can you provide data for the period September 2021 to December 2022, showing the total number of items of Inclisiran prescribed per month, broken down by primary and secondary care prescriptions?

Response

Secondary Care Prescribing (dispensed in hospital)

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. We are unable to provide data on secondary care inclisiran prescribing as this is predominantly administered and dispensed within the hospital setting, so we do not receive the data.

However, it is possible that NHS England 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/

December 2022

Please note that prescription data for December prescriptions is not available as those prescriptions have not been processed. The latest month available is November 2022.

Question 1 and 3

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. You can find the requested data, together with a guidance document at the below web links:

Primary Care Presribing

Dataset: English Prescribing Dataset (EPD) https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-prescribing-data-epd

EPD information provides English prescribing data issued in England and dispensed in England, Wales, Scotland, Guernsey, Alderney, Jersey, and the Isle of Man.

This is presentation level data showing the practice, CCG, STP and region for what has been prescribed in England by GP practices or cost centres. Please note the ICB in this dataset will be the ICB linked to the prescribing organisation, this data does not include any information about where the items were dispensed.

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

Using the EPD data above this will provide the primary care total number of items each month. Latest available data is currently October 2022.

Secondary Care Prescribing (dispensed in the community)

For the data prescribed in a hospital and dispensed in the community please see ‘Hospital prescribing dispensed in the community’ data on the website.

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/hospital-prescribing-dispensed-in-the-community Latest available data is currently November 2022.

Question 2

A copy of the information is attached.

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

October 2021 – November 2022 aggregated

Organisation Data

The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed in England (Primary Care only) regardless of where it was dispensed.

Dataset

This dataset is limited to the prescribing of Inclisiran BNF chemical substance 0212000AM (includes generic and any equivalent brands). Prescriptions prescribed in a secondary care setting and dispensed in the community are excluded from the figures.

Patient Identification

The patient count figure is based on a distinct count of NHS number as captured from the prescription image. Where patient identifiable figures have been reported they are based on the information captured during the prescription processing activities. Please note, patient details cannot be captured from every prescription form, and based on the criteria used for this analysis, patient information (nhs number) was only available for 97.6% of prescription items.

Please note that this request and our response is published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-30976

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data, please contact foidata@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 2023” 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.