Provisional Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with indicative price

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      <span class="nhsuk-u-visually-hidden">Important: </span>
      2026-01-07 Important User Notice – Finalised SCMD Data Files
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  <p>Due to a recently identified technical issue, users who have accessed or downloaded the <strong>Finalised Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with Indicative Price</strong> files covering the period <strong>April 2019 to March 2024 </strong> are advised to disregard any figures derived from those previously provided data files.</p>

<p>The most up-to-date data files have now been published. To ensure accuracy, please re-access and re-download the latest versions directly from the <a href="https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/finalised-secondary-care-medicines-data-scmd-with-indicative-price">Finalised Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with indicative price</a> dataset page.</p>

<p>Any analysis based on earlier versions of these files may contain inaccuracies. We apologise for any inconvenience this issue may have caused and recommend that all reporting for this period is updated using the revised data.</p>

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<h2>Dataset Description</h2>
<p>The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) publishes Secondary Care Medicines Data on behalf of NHS England (NHSE).</p>

<p>This dataset provides <strong>'Provisional'</strong> Secondary Care Medicines data for all NHS Acute, Teaching, Specialist, Mental Health, and Community Trusts in England. It provides information on pharmacy stock control, reflecting processed medicines data. RX Info is responsible for refreshing the Provisional data at the close of each financial year to include backtracking adjustments. The data is <strong>'Finalised'</strong> to provide validated and complete figures for each reporting period, incorporating any updates and corrections throughout the year.</p>

<p>The Finalised dataset serves as the definitive record for each month and year, offering the most accurate information on medicines issued. While we do not analyse changes, users can compare the finalised data with provisional data to identify any discrepancies.</p>

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        <span class="nhsuk-details__summary-text nhsuk-u-font-size-24">Key Components of the Data</span>
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    <li><strong>Quantities of Medicines Issued:</strong> Details the total quantities of medicines stock control via NHS Secondary Care services.</li>
    <li><strong>Indicative Costs:</strong> Actual costs cannot be displayed in the dataset as NHS Hospital pricing contracts and NICE Patient Access Schemes are confidential. The indicative cost of medicines is derived from current medicines pricing data held in NHSBSA data systems (Common Drug Reference and dm+d), calculated to VMP level. Indicative costs are calculated using:
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            <li>Community pharmacy reimbursement prices for generic medicines.</li>
            <li>List prices for branded medicines.</li>
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        Care should be taken when interpreting and analysing this indicative cost as it does not reflect the net actual cost of NHS Trusts, which will differ due to the application of confidential discounts, rebates, or procurement agreements paid by hospitals when purchasing medicines.
    </li>
    <li><strong>Standardisation with SNOMED CT and dm+d:</strong> SNOMED CT (Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms) is used to enhance the dataset’s compatibility with electronic health record systems and clinical decision support tools. SNOMED CT is a globally recognised coding system that provides precise definitions for clinical terms, ensuring interoperability across healthcare systems.</li>
    <li><strong>Trust-Level Data:</strong> Data is broken down by individual NHS Trusts, enabling regional comparisons, benchmarking, and targeted analysis of specific Trusts.</li>
    <li><strong>Medicine Identification:</strong> Medicines in the dataset are identified using Virtual Medicinal Product (VMP) codes from the Dictionary of Medicines and Devices (dm+d):
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            <li>VMP_PRODUCT_NAME: The name of the Virtual Medicinal Product (VMP) as defined by the dm+d, which includes key details about the product. For example: Paracetamol 500mg tablets.</li>
            <li>VMP_SNOMED_CODE: The code for the Virtual Medicinal Product (VMP), providing a unique identifier for each product. For example: 42109611000001109 represents Paracetamol 500mg tablets.</li>
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<p>You can access the finalised files in our <a href="https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/finalised-secondary-care-medicines-data-scmd-with-indicative-price">Finalised Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with indicative price</a> dataset.</p>

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      Further guidance on Secondary Care Medicines Data
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    <p>For more context on the Secondary Care Medicines Data, the following resources may be helpful:</p>
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        <a href="https://github.com/NHSBSA-Open-Data/ODP/raw/ab57824f4e723f9b2057d1aef750d92f85d6136c/Secondary%20Care%20Medicines%20Data%20Release%20Guidance%20v0.5.docx">
          Secondary Care Medicines Data Release Guidance (Word, 78.3KB)
        </a>
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      <li>
        <a href="https://www.rx-info.co.uk/news-views/what-is-the-difference-between-scmd-data-and-rx-info-data/">
          What is the difference between SCMD data and Rx-info data?
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<h2>Overview of Service</h2>

<p>Information about our NHSBSA Prescriptions Data service can be found here - <a href="https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/prescription-data">Prescription data | NHSBSA</a><br><br>

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) publishes this dataset, provided by RX Info, which contains information about pharmacy stock control in NHS Secondary Care settings across England on behalf of NHS England. It includes data from NHS Trusts and is in a standardised dm+d format (<a href="https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pharmacies-gp-practices-and-appliance-contractors/dictionary-medicines-and-devices-dmd">Dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) | NHSBSA</a>).<br><br>

RX Info: RX Info is the provider of the data related to pharmacy stock control medicines issued in NHS Secondary Care settings, which is made available by NHSBSA. <a href="https://www.rx-info.co.uk/">Visit RX Info's website for more details</a>.</p>

<h2>Dataset Details</h2>

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        <p>The data is sourced from NHS Trusts' pharmacy stock control systems which capture detailed records of medicines issued, including quantities.</p>
        <p>The data is provided to NHSBSA by RX Info, a data provider that supplies records on medicines issued in NHS Secondary Care settings.</p>
        <p>Data quality controls are in place to exclude transactions flagged as outliers, non-standardised items and zero activity. No personal or patient-identifiable information is included, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.</p>
        <p>Rx-Info will provide a complete annual refresh of the data two months after the close of a financial year, planned for the end May, which will then be the fixed data set accounting for backtracking. The data for the finalised view is provided to NHSBSA.</p>
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        <span class="nhsuk-details__summary-text nhsuk-u-font-size-24">Data Collection</span>
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        <p>Data is from NHS England sites only and provided under the agreement entered into by Trusts and Rx-Info (Define) facilitated by NHS England. The data owners and data controllers are the respective NHS Trusts.</p>
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        <span class="nhsuk-details__summary-text nhsuk-u-font-size-24">Time Periods</span>
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        <p><strong>Publication frequency:</strong> Data is uploaded on a monthly basis and is published retrospectively with a two-month delay. For example, January data is published in March.</p>
        <p><strong>Historical Data:</strong> Data is available from April 2021 onwards.</p>
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        <p>NHS Trusts in England.</p>
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<p>This is not an official statistic. </p>
<p>A related official statistic can be found in our <a href="https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/prescribing-costs-hospitals-and-community-england">Prescribing Costs in Hospitals and the Community publication</a>, which includes Secondary Care Medicines data with actual cost, broken down by British National Formulary (BNF) Section.</p>
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<h2>Caveats</h2>

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  <h3 class="nhsuk-u-font-size-32">Interpreting 'Cost' Data</h3>

<strong>Indicative Costs:</strong> The costs in this dataset are indicative and do not reflect the net actual cost (including discounts and rebates) paid by hospitals when purchasing medicines. Due to confidential procurement agreements, the indicative costs will overestimate total NHS hospital expenditure. These figures are most useful for trend analysis rather than precise cost predictions.</p>

<strong>Cost Growth:</strong> Growth estimates based on this dataset should be interpreted with caution. Discounts and rebates affect both spending levels and growth rates, meaning that observed cost trends may not fully represent actual NHS expenditure patterns.
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  <p>The dataset does not include medicines prescribed in primary care (e.g., GP surgeries) or private healthcare providers, or NHS prescriptions supplied by hospitals dispensed in community pharmacy.</p>
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  <h3 class="nhsuk-u-font-size-32">Data Responsibility</h3>
  <p>NHS Business Services Authority publish this data on behalf of NHS England and are therefore not able to provide analytical support or interpretation of the data. This data is provided by individual NHS Trusts via the Rx-Info system.</p>
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<h2>Enquiries</h2>
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    <p>If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data, please contact <a href="mailto:DataServicesSupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk">DataServicesSupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a> ensuring you quote the name of the dataset for reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.</p>
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<h2>Citing and Reusing This Data</h2>
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    <span class="nhsuk-details__summary-text nhsuk-u-font-size-24">Important information regarding reusing the data and copyright</span>
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    <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/or other applicable law. You may use the data freely, provided that you attribute the source.</p>
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<p><p>NHS Business Services Authority. " Provisional - Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with indicative price " NHS Business Services Authority Open Data. Accessed **[Date Accessed]**. URL: <a href="https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/secondary-care-medicines-data-indicative-price">https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/secondary-care-medicines-data-indicative-price</a></p>
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Tags: Hospital Medicines Data
Organization: Hospital & Provider Medicines