FOI-03616

Thank you for your request for information about the following:

##Request##
You asked us:

<p><i>You previously provided me with age-group specific data (1-5 year olds, 6-11 year olds and 12-17 year olds) for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB on: <p>
 
Prescribing of 6+ SABA inhalers over the previous 12 months <p>
Prescribing of 3+ SABA inhalers over the previous 12 months <p>
Number of Symbicort inhaler prescriptions per month <p>
 
I previously requested data up to July 2025. Would it now be possible to obtain data from July 2025 until now?  <p> I would like data for the ICB as a whole and for individual practices.</i></p>

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 18 February 2026. 

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. 

##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 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.
 
<strong>Data Source</strong>
	
The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.
 
<strong>Time Period</strong>
	
All prescribing between August 2025 and December 2025. However, for the SABA files, prescribing from September 2024 was considered but as this is a 12-month-rolling metric, data is displayed against August 2025 to December 2025 only.
 
<strong>Organisation Data</strong>
	
The data is for prescriptions dispensed in the community of NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB - QRL00. 
 
<strong>Drugs and appliances</strong>

Limited to prescribing of 3+, 6+ SABA inhalers and Symbicort drugs separately. Drugs are listed within the 'Drugs' supporting document.
 
Please note that if a patient has received more than one prescription for the same presentation in the same period from the same practice and dispenser,
each of these prescriptions would be included. 
 
<strong>Patient Age</strong> <p>
Data is limited to forms where an NHS Number and age is captured as 1-5 years old, 6-11 years old and 12-17 years old.	
 
<strong>Identified Patients</strong>

Prescriptions are only included in the data if an NHS number was captured during processing. 
 
For further information please refer to the respiratory dashboard specifications: 
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/access-our-data-products/epact2/dashboards-and-specifications/respiratory-dashboard 
 
<strong>Exclusions</strong>


The Data excludes: 

•	Items not dispensed, disallowed and those returned to the contractor for further clarification.  <p>
•	Prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in Prisons, Hospitals and Private prescriptions. <p>
•	Items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser. <p>
 
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, NHS numbers and ages are available for 99.7% of prescription items for drugs involved in the SABA metrics and 99.8% of items involved in the symbicort data.

<strong>Data Queries</strong>

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.

<strong>Reusing the data and copyright</strong>

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: “Data Warehouse, NHSBSA Copyright 2026”. 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: English Prescribing Data, NHS Prescription Services, SABA inhalers
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log