FOI-02725

##Request

I wanted to enquire whether we could get access to data outlining the number of medical cannabis prescriptions and/or unique people receiving such prescriptions (broken down by either NHS or private providers) in the UK, since the legalisation of medical cannabis, to use as an input within a commercial project.
 
Date Range: 01/01/17 to 04/04/25

You subsequently provided the following clarifications:

•	You require data aggregated monthly

•	For NHS licensed data, you require both patient counts and the number of prescriptions (items)

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your clarified request on 11 April 2025

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. 

##Our response

###Fewer than five patients

We can confirm that the monthly number of NHS unlicensed and private licensed medical cannabis patients is less than five. Therefore these datasets have been withheld in accordance with Section 40(2) and Section 41 of the FOIA. 

###Section 40(2) - Personal information
 
 Figures under five have been supressed as this information is exempt under section 40(2) of the FOIA (personal information).  

Section 40(2) is an absolute, prejudice-based exemption and therefore is exempt if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles. For disclosure to comply with the lawfulness, fairness, and transparency principle, we either need the consent of the data subject(s) or there must be a legitimate interest in disclosure. In addition, the disclosure must be necessary to meet the legitimate interest and finally, the disclosure must not cause unwarranted harm. 

As we do not have the consent of the data subject(s), we are therefore required to conduct a balancing exercise between legitimate interest of the applicant in disclosure against the rights and freedoms of the data subject(s).  

We acknowledge that you have a legitimate interest in disclosure of the information in order to provide the full picture of the requested data held by us. However, we have concluded that disclosure of the requested information would cause unwarranted harm and therefore, Section 40(2) is engaged. This is because there is a reasonable expectation that patient data processed by us remains confidential.  

To view Section 40 exemption in full: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40   

###Section 41 – provided in confidence

This information is also exempt under Section 41 of the FOIA (information provided in confidence). This is because the requested information was provided to us in confidence.

For Section 41 to be engaged, the following criteria must be fulfilled:
 
·	the authority must have obtained the information from another person,
·	its disclosure must constitute a breach of confidence,
·	a legal person must be able to bring an action for the breach of confidence to court, and
·	that court action must be likely to succeed.
 We can confirm that the information has been obtained from a third party and that subsequent disclosure of that information would constitute a breach of confidence. In addition, disclosure could result in a legal person being able to bring action for the breach of confidence to a court and that court action.

To view Section 41 exemption in full: 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/41 

###Remaining information

I can confirm that we hold the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.

Please read the notes to ensure your 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 one 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

When prescriptions are processed by NHSBSA data capture, prescriptions sometimes contain prescribing of medicines that were not populated on the NHSBSA drug database at the time. This type of order will be captured as an ‘unspecified drug.’  Data for prescribing of unlicensed cannabis-based medicines has been taken from data captured as unspecified prescribing. Unlicensed cannabis-based medicines are identified by an additional review process which occurs after the prescriptions have been processed. The items identified by this review are reported against the date that the prescription was written and not necessarily when they were submitted. Therefore, these figures may be subject to change if the prescription is submitted to us in a later month.

###This dataset

The datasets show total items prescribed per month for NHS licensed and private unlicensed cannabis-based products. Within the NHS licensed data, an identified unique patient count is also provided per month. Please note that patient counts are not held for private unlicensed prescribing. The following Chemical Substances are included within the licensed data: Nabilone BNF (0406000R0) Dronabinol/cannabidiol BNF (1002020Y0) and Cannabidiol BNF 0408010AM). A standardised product list for unlicensed presentations is not held.

###Time Period

NHS licensed (Part 1) January 2017 to February 2025 - latest month available.

Private unlicensed (Part 2) November 2018 to September 2024 - earliest and latest months available.

Please note the figures for the private unlicensed data (especially the more recent the data) are subject to change as new data is processed – see Data Source.

Data is presented monthly.

###Organisation Data

NHS licensed data is for items prescribed in England regardless of where dispensed. Private unlicensed data is based on items dispensed in the community in England.

Items show the number of times a product appears on a prescription form not the quantity prescribed.

###Patient Information: 
 
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 only available for 82.02% of prescription items. 

The patient count figures are based on a distinct count of NHS number as captured from the prescription image. 

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 and age bands. 


##Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk 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 communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. 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: “Data Warehouse, NHSBSA Copyright 2025”. 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