FOI-03642

##Request

_Please provide national data on contraceptive injectable use in England (or the UK if England-only data are unavailable) for the most recent five financial years._

_Specifically, I request the annual total number of prescriptions or items dispensed for:_ 

_Norethisterone enanthate (NET-EN), including Noristerat_

_Medroxyprogesterone acetate - intramuscular (e.g., Depo-Provera)_

_Medroxyprogesterone acetate - subcutaneous (e.g., Sayana Press)_

_Where possible, please provide:_

_Annual totals for each financial year_

_Data separated by:_

_Primary care prescribing_

_Sexual and reproductive health/community services_

_Relevant BNF codes or equivalent product classifications (if brand-level data are unavailable)_

_Any notes on data coverage or limitations_

_If full data are not available, I would appreciate any partial data and advice on where more complete information may be obtained._

##Response

Under Section 21 of the FOIA we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. 

The information you requested is available on the NHSBSA website.

Please see the following link to view the section 21 in full - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/21

__Advice and assistance__

The majority of the data you have requested is available in our published prescribing datasets, which contain national figures for items dispensed in the community in England. Please note that NHSBSA prescribing data does not include a reliable indicator to identify Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) or community services. As a result, we are unable to provide a breakdown separating primary care from SRH/community service prescribing.

The information relevant to your request can be accessed as follows:

__Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) – Annual data__

Annual PCA publications for England are available for all financial years covering your request:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/prescription-cost-analysis-england 

For each financial year, you may download the National Summary Tables – financial years and filter for:

•	Norethisterone enanthate (NET EN)

•	Medroxyprogesterone acetate

These tables include the number of items dispensed in the community in England.

The BNF structure does not differentiate between intramuscular and subcutaneous formulations of medroxyprogesterone acetate. However, brand level information is available within the “Presentation” tab of the same workbook, enabling you to identify items for:

•	Depo Provera

•	Sayana Press

•	Other relevant presentations

We have supplied a BNF code list for both chemical substances separately for your reference. Column M identifies the presentations included within each chemical substance.

__Prescription Cost Analysis – Monthly data__

More granular month by month PCA data (up to January 2026) is available at:
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/prescription-cost-analysis-pca-monthly-data

You can access and filter this data using the same chemical substances and product presentations described above.

__English Prescribing Dataset (EPD)__

The EPD includes the number of items prescribed in England, along with the organisation that issued the prescription:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-prescribing-dataset-epd-with-snomed-code 

Please note:

•	The dataset is monthly and large in size and therefore requires more processing time than PCA.

•	As with PCA, the dataset does not contain a flag indicating whether prescriptions originate from SRH or community services.

__Data coverage and limitations__

•	PCA datasets contain information for items dispensed in the community in England.

•	EPD datasets contain items prescribed, which may differ from items actually dispensed.

•	Prescribing from some SRH/community services does not flow through NHSBSA datasets and therefore cannot be reliably isolated.

•	The BNF classification does not split medroxyprogesterone acetate by route of administration, but brand specific presentation data can be used as a proxy.

You may therefore find the PCA (annual and monthly) datasets the most efficient route for locating the national totals you require.

Tags: NHS Prescription Services
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log