FOI-03655

Thank you for your request for information about the following: 

##Request 

<p><i>‘Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request the following information</i></p>

<p><i>The number of antidepressant drugs prescribed to patients for each of the 32 boroughs in London for the past 5 years.</i></p>

<p><i>By antidepressants I mean all common SSRIs and SNRIs.</i></p>

<p><i>If borough-level data is not held, I would be happy to receive the number of prescription items for BNF section 4.3 (Antidepressant drugs) by GP practice in London for the past five years, including the practice postcode so the data can be aggregated by borough.’</i></p>

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 5 March 2026.  

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). 

##Our response 

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached. 

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data. 

##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.  

(Please note- for this particular dataset- data has been provided for prescriptions dispensed by English pharmacy contractors and dispensing doctors only, please refer to 'Organisation Data' for more information).  

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 

Yearly 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 

##Organisation Data 

GP Practices within the London region. 

##Dataset 

The data is limited to the number of antidepressants (BNF Section 0403) prescribed by GP Practices within the London region and shows the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Practice Name, Address and Post Code. 

An annotation against a practice, such as (C 01-Aug-22 ) or ( D 01-Apr-26 ) for example, means that that practice was either closed or dormant as of the date shown. 

Where a practice was closed and did not have an address the last historical address and post code held has been used. For a small number of practices an address and post code is not shown. This is because the practice was a deputising service and an address is not held within ePACT2. 

##Items 

Items show the number of times a product appears on a prescription form, not the quantity prescribed. 

##Data Queries 

Please contact <a href=mailto:foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk>foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a> ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data. 

##Reusing the data and copyright 

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact <a href=mailto:communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk>communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a>. 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 Copyright 2026”. 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.

Tags: Antidepressants, London, NHS Prescriptions
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log