FOI-03835

##Request

You asked us:

<i><p><em>I would like to request total items, total quantity and total Net Ingredient cost for each BNF Code reimbursed by NHSBSA for January 2026 to March 2026 (each month separately please). I require the totals to be presented at BNF Code level, divided into the standard 5 year age bandings and further separated by patient gender.&nbsp;</em></p>

<p><em>I would like data for prescriptions dispensed and prescribed in England. Prescribing is to be split by Sub ICB (SICBL) and limited to prescribing within a SICBL.&nbsp;</em></p>
<p><em>I would like to receive the following fields:&nbsp;</em></p>
<ul>
<li><em>AGE_BAND&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>BNF_CODE&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>GENDER&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>ITEMS&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>NIC_GBP&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>SICBL_CODE&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>SICBL_NAME&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>TOTAL_QUANTITY&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>YEAR_MONTH&nbsp;</em></li>
</ul>
<p><em>Age bands should be labelled up as follows:&nbsp;</em></p>
<ul>
<li><em>Aged 0-4&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 10-14&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 15-19&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 20-24&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 25-29&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 30-34&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 35-39&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 40-44&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 45-49&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 50-54&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 55-59&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 5-9&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 60-64&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 65-69&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 70-74&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 75-79&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 80-84&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 85-89&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 90-94&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>Aged 95+&nbsp;</em></li>
<li><em>UNKNOWN&nbsp;</em></li>
</ul></i>

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 19 May 2026.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. 

##Our response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached.

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for pharmacy contractors, appliance contractors, dispensing doctors and personal administration. They use  this information  to make payments to pharmacy 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.
	
<strong>Data Source</strong>	

The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.

<strong>Exclusions</strong>

The Data excludes: 
<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>
<li>Items supplied under NHS pharmacy advanced services.</li></ul>

<strong>Drugs</strong>

This dataset suppresses age band and gender for the prescribing of sensitive medicines based on the most recent data held in the NHSBSA Data Warehouse. As per the most recent guidelines, where suppression has been applied, the age band has been replaced with an asterisk (*) and the gender has been replaced with 'Not Known'.

Medicines in list A are considered sensitive regardless of the number of items. Medicines in list E are considered sensitive if they match a specified quantity. The full list of sensitive medicines relevant for this time period can be found in the document: SENSITIVE_MEDS.csv.

Please note, BNF (British National Formulary) code 190201000AABLBL with BNF name 'Exception Handler Unspecified Item' appears in the SENSITIVE_MEDS.csv. 

A Prescribed/Paid Drug may come out as "Unspecified" when:

a) 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. Any prescribing that falls into this category is captured as an ‘unspecified drug’.

b) There are cases when a drug is not classified under BNF structure, prescribing of those drugs will show as "Unspecified". (e.g. secondary care products). 

<strong>Time Period	</strong>

January 2026 - March 2026

<strong>Organisation Data</strong>

The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in England. The dataset is limited to items prescribed within an SICBL.

##Data Queries

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.

##Reusing the data and copyright

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.

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: “NHSBSA Copyright 2026” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:<br>
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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: Prescriptions Service, prescribing
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log