FOI-03760

##Request

_I am requesting your assistance under the Freedom of Information Act and hope that this request is able to be fulfilled reasonably easily._

_I would like the same query as in FOI Request reference FOI-03465, however I would like this for February 2026 data._

_Part 1:_

_For the most recent month (February 26), per A medicine (see list below), per ICB and nationally:_

_How many A medicine scripts went to people not getting any B drug in this or the previous 11 months_

_Part 2:_

_In order to understand what "B" medicine (see list below) patients only receiving an "A" medicine in the current month were previously taking, I would like to know the following:_

_Of the A scripts that went to people not getting B in the current month, but who DID have a B script in the previous 11 months: what were the number of B scripts in each of those previous months, for each "A" BNFID._

_The "B" scripts could be aggregated to BNF_CHEMICAL_SUBSTANCE or reported at BNFID level if easier._

_I am requesting this at national level for February 26._

_I understand that these results will not be able to be summed and that the information on Drug B for people getting more than one "A" medicine in the month will feature twice._

_Part 3:_

_I would like to know the number of unique patients getting more than one medicine from List A in February 26._

_Part 4:_

_I would also like to know the unique patient count for each row in part 2, at national level_

_Part 5:_

_If possible, I would also like parts 2 and 4 at ICB level._

___List A:___

_medicines with the following BNFID prefixes 0601023AB*, 0601023AI*, 0601023AQ*, 0601023AS*, 0601023AW*, 0601023AZ*, 0601023Y0*_

___List B:___

_medicines with any of the following BNFID prefixes_

_0601011  
7-digit_

_0601012  
7-digit_

_0601021  
7-digit_

_0601022  
7-digit_

_0601040  
7-digit_

_0601023B  
8-digit_

_0601023I  
8-digit_

_0601023R  
8-digit_

_0601023S  
8-digit_

_0601023U  
8-digit_

_0601023V  
8-digit_

_0601023W  
8-digit_

_0601023X  
8-digit_

_0601023Z  
8-digit_

_0601023A0  
9-digit_

_0601023AA  
9-digit_

_0601023AC  
9-digit_

_0601023AD  
9-digit_

_0601023AE  
9-digit_

_0601023AF  
9-digit_

_0601023AG  
9-digit_

_0601023AH  
9-digit_

_0601023AJ  
9-digit_

_0601023AK  
9-digit_

_0601023AL  
9-digit_

_0601023AM  
9-digit_

_0601023AN  
9-digit_

_0601023AP  
9-digit_

_0601023AR  
9-digit_

_0601023AU  
9-digit_

_0601023AV  
9-digit_

_0601023AX  
9-digit_

_0601023AY  
9-digit_

##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.

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__	

A drug data limited to February 2026. B drug data looks at that month and the 11 months before the A drug month; so March 2025 to February 2026. 

__Organisation Data__	

The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed in England.

__Drugs__

Drug group A is limited to drugs with the following BNF prefixes  0601023AB, 0601023AI, 0601023AQ, 0601023AS, 0601023AW, 0601023AZ, 0601023Y0

Drug group B is limited to drugs with the following BNF prefixes 0601011, 0601012, 0601021, 0601022, 0601040, 0601023B, 0601023I, 0601023R, 0601023S, 0601023U, 0601023V, 0601023W, 0601023X, 0601023Z, 0601023A0, 0601023AA, 0601023AC, 0601023AD, 0601023AE, 0601023AF, 0601023AG, 0601023AH, 0601023AJ, 0601023AK, 0601023AL, 0601023AM, 0601023AN, 0601023AP, 0601023AR, 0601023AU, 0601023AV, 0601023AX, 0601023AY

__Identified Patients__

Prescriptions are only included if an NHS Number has been captured during NHSBSA processing.

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 available for 99.45% of A drug prescription items and 99.65% of B drug prescription items.

__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.

The request includes multiple output .csv files, these are;

FOI03691_part_1_England.csv

FOI03691_part_1_ICB.csv

FOI03691_part_2_and_4.csv

FOI03691_part_3.csv

FOI03691_part_5.csv

__Part 1 caveats__

__Patients__

Data is limited to prescriptions from patients with prescribing from Drug Group A, with no prescribing from Drug Group B in the same month or the 11 previous months. This is consistent across both organisational data outputs.


__Part 2 and 4 caveats__

Part 2 and 4 are for data at a national (England) level. 

__Patients__

Data is limited to prescriptions from patients with prescribing from Drug Group A, with no prescribing from Drug Group B in the same month but having prescribing from drug group B in the 11 previous months.  

A prefix of A in the column heading indicates the data in this column is linked to the drug list A. 

A prefix of B in the column heading indicates the data in this column is linked to the drug list B. 

The data should be viewed only for specific A drug presentations and months. For example limiting to A_YEAR_MONTH = 202408 and A_BNF_PRESENTATION_CODE = 0601023AQAAADAD will give you all the B drugs received, the 11 B months they were received in with item and patient counts for all patients receiving the selected A drug in the A month.

As patients can receive multiple A drugs in multiple months, the B drug data is repeated for every combination of A drug and A month. 

The data should not be aggregated as this will result in double counting of both items and patients.  

__Part 3 caveats__

Part 3 is at a national (England) level. 

__Patients__

Data is limited to patients who received prescribing of more than one BNF presentation from drug group A in the same month. 

__Part 5 caveats__

Part 5 data is presented with the prescribing organisation (ICB).

__Patients__

Data is limited to prescriptions from patients with prescribing from Drug Group A, with no prescribing from Drug Group B in the same month but having prescribing from drug group B in the 11 previous months.  

A prefix of A in the column heading indicates the data in this column is linked to the drug list A. 

A prefix of B in the column heading indicates the data in this column is linked to the drug list B. 

The data should be viewed only for specific A drug presentations, months and ICBs. For example limiting to A_YEAR_MONTH = 202410, A_BNF_PRESENTATION_CODE = 0601023AQAAADAD and A_ICB_NAME = QHL will give you all the B drugs received, the 11 B months they were received in with item and patient counts for all patients receiving the selected A drug in the A month and A ICB.

As patients can receive multiple A drugs in multiple months and ICBs, the B drug data is repeated for every combination of A drug, A month and A ICB.

The data should not be aggregated as this will result in double counting of both items and patients.  

__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 Information Services Data Warehouse, 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: NHS Prescription Services
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log