FOI-03052

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  <title>FOI Response - Unlicensed Cannabis Prescribing</title>
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  <p><strong>Request</strong></p>

  <p><em>You asked us:</em></p>

  <p><em>I am requesting an update to the data provided here under FOI 02725 Part 2  Private Prescribing for Unlicensed Cannabis (https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02725). Specifically, it would be great to see the updated number of prescriptions dispensed in England per month to the latest month you have available.</em></p>

  <p><em>The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 05 August 2025</em></p>

  <p><em>We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.</em></p>

  <p><strong>Our response</strong></p>

  <p>I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.</p>

  <p>Please read the below notes to ensure your correct understanding of the data.</p>

  <p><strong>Fewer than five patients</strong></p>

  <p><strong>Section 40(2) - Personal information</strong></p>

  <p>We have supressed figures under five as this information is exempt under section 40(2) of the FOIA (personal information).</p>

  <p>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.</p>

  <p>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).</p>

  <p>We acknowledge that you have a legitimate interest in disclosure of the information 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.</p>

  <p>To view Section 40 exemption in full: <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40">https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40</a></p>

  <p><strong>The data</strong></p>

  <p>Private prescribing of unlicensed cannabis-based medicines for the period of November 2018 to October 2024</p>

  <p>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.</p>

  <p><strong>Data Source</strong></p>

  <p>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 the NHSBSA in a later month.</p>

  <p><strong>This dataset</strong></p>

  <p>The dataset shows the total items prescribed per month for private unlicensed cannabis-based products.</p>

  <p>You should note that patient counts are not held for private unlicensed prescribing.</p>

  <p>A standardised product list for unlicensed presentations is not held.</p>

  <p><strong>Time period</strong></p>

  <p>The data covers the time period of November 2018 to October 2024.</p>

  <p>You should note the figures (especially the more recent data) are subject to change as we process new data (see: Data Source).</p>

  <p>The data is presented monthly.</p>

  <p><strong>Organisation Data</strong></p>

  <p>The private unlicensed data for cannabis is based on items dispensed in the community in England.</p>

  <p><strong>Items</strong></p>

  <p>Items show the number of times a product appears on a prescription form and not the quantity prescribed.</p>

  <p><strong>Publishing this response</strong></p>

  <p>Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:</p>

  <p><a href="https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-03052">https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-03052</a></p>

  <p>Your personal details will be removed from the published response.</p>

  <p><strong>Data Queries</strong></p>

  <p>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.</p>

  <p><strong>Reusing the data and copyright</strong></p>

  <p>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.</p>

  <p>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:</p>

  <p><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></p>

  <p>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.</p>

  <p>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.</p>

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Tags: Cannabis, unlicenced
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log