FOI-03016

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 Thank you for your request for information about the following:

  <strong>Request</strong>

  <p><em>Please can I request an update to FOI-02932, for the same query but to reflect the next data month available - that is, May 2025 (Year_Month 202505)? I understand that this data should now be available.</em></p>

  <strong>Original Request</strong>
  <p><em>I would like to request some specific information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on prescription activity within a therapeutic area I am currently investigating. I believe this information is held by yourselves at the NHS Business Services Authority as part of the recording of reimbursement activity, but the specific information I am seeking is not available from the data published on your site.</p>
  <p>I am looking to ascertain the number of monthly prescription items, cost and quantity of each medicine included in list A (below), that are being prescribed to patients who are not also in receipt of any of the medicines from the group defined in list B (also below).</em></p>
  <p><em>Please could I have this information for the latest available reporting month, and 23 previous months, to enable me to look at the past two-years of prescriptions.</em></p>
  <p><em>This information at a national (England) level would be most useful. Secondly, I would also like the information at ICB level if this is practical within resource constraints.</em></p>

  <p><em>Desired Output Format</em></p>
  <p><em>Either XLSX or CSV format, with the following columns:</em></p><em>
  <ul>
    <li>Date</li>
    <li>BNFID (from list A)</li>
    <li>Items to patients not getting anything from list B</li>
    <li>"NIC" to patients not getting anything from list B</li>
    <li>Quantity to patients not getting anything from list B</li>
    <li>Location (England, or ICB code)</li>
  </em></ul>

  <p><em>Example Output</p>
  <p>Nov-23 / 0601023ABAAAAAA / 123 / £456 / 234 / England
Nov-23 / 0601023AIBBAAAA / 345 / £678 / 901 / England</em></p>
 
  <p><em>List A</em></p>
  <p><em>Medicines with the following BNFID prefixes:</em></p>
<p><em>
0601023AB, 0601023AI, 0601023AQ, 0601023AS, 0601023AW, 0601023AZ, 0601023Y0*
</em></p>
  <p><em>Full BNFIDs:</em></p>
 <p><em>
0601023ABAAAAAA
0601023ABBBAAAA
0601023ABBCAAAA
0601023AIAAAAAA
0601023AIAAABAB
0601023AIAAACAC
0601023AIBBAAAA
0601023AIBBABAB
0601023AIBBACAC
0601023AQAAAAAA
0601023AQAAABAB
0601023AQAAACAC
0601023AQAAADAD
0601023AQBBAAAA
0601023AQBBABAB
0601023AQBBACAC
0601023AQBBADAD
0601023ASAAAAAA
0601023ASAAABAB
0601023ASBBAAAA
0601023ASBBABAB
0601023AWAAAAAA
0601023AWAAABAB
0601023AWAAACAC
0601023AWAAADAD
0601023AWAAAEAE
0601023AWAAAFAF
0601023AWAAAGAG
0601023AWAAAHAH
0601023AWAAAIAI
0601023AWBBAAAA
0601023AWBBABAB
0601023AWBBACAC
0601023AWBCAAAD
0601023AWBCABAE
0601023AWBCACAF
0601023AWBDAAAB
0601023AWBDABAG
0601023AWBDACAH
0601023AWBDADAI
0601023AWBDAEAJ
0601023AZAAAAAA
0601023AZAAABAB
0601023Y0AAAAAA
0601023Y0AAABAB
0601023Y0AAACAC
0601023Y0AAADAD
0601023Y0AAAEAE
0601023Y0BBAAAA
0601023Y0BBABAB
0601023Y0BCAAAC
0601023Y0BCABAD
0601023Y0BCACAE
 </em></p>

   <p><em>List B</em> </p>
  <p><em>Medicines with any of the following BNFID prefixes:</em></p>
 <p><em>
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)
 </em></p>

  <p>The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 17 July 2025.</p>
  <p>We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).</p>

  <strong>Our Response</strong>

  <p>I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.</p>

  <p>Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.</p>

  <strong>Prescription Services Overview</strong>
  <p>
    NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for pharmacy contractors, appliance contractors, dispensing doctors and personal administration. This information is 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.
  </p>
  <p>
    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 insights on costs and trends in prescribing in England and Wales to over 25,000 registered NHS and Department of Health and Social Care users.
  </p>

  <strong>Exclusions</strong>
  <ul>
    <li>Items not dispensed, disallowed, and those returned to the contractor for further clarification.</li>
    <li>Prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in Prisons, Hospitals, and Private prescriptions.</li>
    <li>Items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser.</li>
  </ul>

 <strong>Data Source</strong>
  <p>The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.</p>

  <strong>Time Period</strong>
  <p>May 2025</p>

  <strong>Organisation Data</strong>
  <p>The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed in England.</p>

  <strong>Drugs</strong>
  <p><strong>Drug Group A:</strong> Limited to drugs with the following BNF prefixes:</p>
<p> 0601023AB*, 0601023AI*, 0601023AQ*, 0601023AS*, 0601023AW*, 0601023AZ*, 0601023Y0* </p>

  <p><strong>Drug Group B:</strong> Limited to drugs with the following BNF prefixes:</p>
  
<p>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* </p>
 

  <strong>Identified Patients</strong>
  <p>Prescriptions are only included if an NHS Number has been captured during NHSBSA processing.</p>

  <strong>Patients</strong>
  <p>
    Data is limited to prescriptions from patients with prescribing from Drug Group A, with no prescribing from Drug Group B, in the same month and ICB. This is consistent across both organisational data outputs.
  </p>

  <strong>Data Queries</strong>
  <p>
    Please contact <a href="mailto:foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk">foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a> quoting 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.
  </p>

  <strong>Reusing the Data and Copyright</strong>
  <p>
    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.
  </p>
  <p>
    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 licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:
    <br>
    <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/">Open Government Licence v3.0</a>
  </p>
  <p>
    Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: <strong>“NHSBSA Copyright 2025”</strong>. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.
  </p>
  <p>
    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.
  </p>
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