FOI-03158

<b>Request</b><br><br>

<i>You asked us:</i><br><br>

<i>I would like make a FOI request regarding the below, please:</i><br><br>

<i>How many sunscreen prescriptions have been dispensed to patients by pharmacies in the UK each year during the last ten years?</i><br><br>

<i>How many people in the UK currently qualify for free sunscreen via NHS prescription?</i><br><br>

<i>How much money has been spent by the NHS dispensing prescription sunscreen in the UK each year during the last ten years?</i><br><br>

<i>The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 4 September 2025.</i><br><br>

<i>On 10 September 2025, you clarified that:</i><br><br>

<i>Time Period: What specific time frame should this data cover? We currently hold data up to June 2025.</i><br><br>

<i>In this case, please could I have the data from 1 January 2015 to 31 May 2025?</i><br><br>

<i>Dispensing Scope: Should the figures include prescriptions dispensed by both English Pharmacy contractors and English Dispensing Doctors? </i><br><br>

<i>Please include both.</i><br><br>

<i>We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.</i><br><br>

<b>Our response</b><br><br>

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.<br><br>

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.<br><br>

The attached data provides the number of yearly items and Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) (£) for all presentations held within BNF 130801 (sun screening preparations) and dispensed by English pharmacy and English dispensing doctor accounts.<br><br>

In addition, the number of identified patients prescribed each presentation, who were exempt from a prescription charge, have been included within the data.<br><br>

Please note the NHSBSA does not capture the clinical condition so there may be instances where these presentations were prescribed for other conditions than the BNF paragraph would suggest. <br><br>

<b>NHSBSA</b><br><br>

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. <br><br>

<b>Data Source: ePACT2</b><br><br>

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. <br><br>

<b>The data excludes:</b><br><br>

• items not dispensed, disallowed and those returned to the contractor for further clarification<br>
• prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in prisons, hospitals and private prescriptions<br>
• items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser<br><br>

<b>Time Period:</b><br><br>

The data covers the time period of the calendar years 2015 to 2024, and for 2025 – up to 31 May 2025.<br><br>

<b>Organisation Data:</b><br><br>

The data is for items prescribed anywhere in the UK and dispensed by pharmacy contractors and dispensing doctors in England.<br><br>

<b>Data:</b><br><br>

The data is limited to all presentations dispensed from British National Formulary (BNF) paragraph 130801 – sun screening preparations.<br><br>

<b>BNF Code:</b><br><br>

The BNF Code is a 15-digit code in which the first seven digits are allocated according to the categories in the BNF, and the last eight digits represent the medicinal product, form, strength and the link to the generic equivalent product.<br><br>

NHS Prescription Services created pseudo BNF chapters, which are not published, for items not included in BNF chapters 1 to 15. Most of these items are dressings and appliances which NHS Prescription Services has classified into four pseudo BNF chapters (20 to 23). <br><br>

<b>Items:</b><br><br>

Shows the number of times a product appears on a prescription form not the quantity prescribed.<br><br>

<b>Net Ingredient Cost (£):</b><br><br>

The Net Ingredient cost (NIC) is the basic price of a drug as stated in Part II Clause 8 of the Drug Tariff. You should note that where a price concession for items listed in Drug Tariff Part VIII has been agreed between the Department of Health and Social Care and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price. <br><br>

<b>Patient_Identified:</b><br><br>

This is the number of identifiable patients who received an exemption for the respective presentation. This is based on whether the patient's NHS number could be read from the prescription form or Electronic Prescription Service message.<br><br>

<b>Patient Information:</b><br><br>

Patient information is based on the information captured during prescription processing activities.  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 92.71% of prescription items. <br><br>

The figures for the number of identifiable patients should not be combined and reported at any other level than provided as this may result in the double-counting of patients.  For example, a single patient could appear in the results for multiple calendar years. <br><br>

<b>Publishing this response</b><br><br>

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:<br><br>

<a href="https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-03158">https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-03158</a><br><br>

Your personal details will be removed from the published response.<br><br>

<b>Data Queries</b><br><br>

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.<br><br>

<b>Reusing the data and copyright</b><br><br>

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.<br><br>

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:<br><br>

<a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/">http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/</a><br><br>

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “ePACT2, NHSBSA Copyright 2025”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.<br><br>

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 Prescriptions, Sunscreen
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log