FOI-03200

<b>Request</b><br><br>
<i>You asked us:</i><br><br>
<i>Please could I now request the following data:</i><br><br>
<i>The same data requested previously from February 2025 to present (latest available data). As a reminder, we would like to obtain age-group specific data (1-5 year olds, 6-11 year olds and 12-17 year olds) and data for males vs females on: prescribing of 6+ SABA inhalers, prescribing of 3+ SABA inhalers, montelukast prescriptions and Symbicort inhaler prescriptions.  We would like data for the ICB as a whole and for individual practices.</i><br><br>
<i>Please could you also provide details of how many children in each age/gender group (1-5 year old males/females, 6-11 year old males/females and 12-17 year old males/females) were registered with each practice at each time point and how many had a coded diagnosis of asthma? By time point, I mean each of the months for which we have data (September 2023 to present)?</i><br><br>
<i>We are also keen to explore whether there is any association between SABA over-prescribing and neurodiversity. Would you be able to share data on how many children within each practice have a coded diagnosis of autism or ADHD?</i><br><br>

<b>The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 24 September 2025.</b><br><br>
<b>We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.</b><br><br>

<b>Our response</b><br><br>
I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds some of the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is below,<br><br>
In response to question 2, the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) does not hold data regarding the number of patients registered with GP practices or their medical diagnoses. However, NHS England has published some relevant information, accessible via the link provided below. NHSBSA is unable to identify patients diagnosed with Asthma, Autism, or ADHD.<br><br>
Patients Registered at a GP Practice, October 2025 - NHS England Digital<br><br>

<b>Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.</b><br><br>

<b>NHSBSA</b><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</b><br>
The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.<br><br>

<b>Time Period</b><br>
All prescribing between February 2025 and July 2025. However for the SABA files, prescribing from October 2022 was considered but is a 12-month-rolling metric so displayed against February 2025 and July 2025 only<br><br>

<b>Organisation Data</b><br>
The data is for prescriptions dispensed in the community of NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB - QRL00.<br><br>

<b>Drugs and appliances</b><br>
Limited to prescribing of 3+, 6+ SABA inhalers, Montelukast and Symbicort drugs separately. Drugs are listed within the 'Drugs' supporting document.<br><br>
Please note that if a patient has received more than one prescription for the same presentation in the same period from the same practice and dispenser, each of these prescriptions would be included.<br><br>

<b>Patient Age</b><br>
Data is limited to forms where an NHS Number and age is captured as 1-5 year olds, 6-11 year old and 12-17 year olds<br><br>

<b>Identified Patients</b><br>
Prescriptions are only included in the data if an NHS number was captured during processing.<br><br>
For further information please refer to the respiratory dashboard specifications: <a href="https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/prescription-data/respiratory-dashboard">Respiratory dashboard | NHSBSA</a><br><br>

<b>Exclusions</b><br>
The Data excludes:<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>
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, NHS numbers and ages are available for 99.56% of prescription items for drugs involved in the SABA metrics.<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-03200">https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-03200</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: “Data Warehouse, 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: SABA inhalers, Symbicort, montelukast
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log