FOI-02446

#Request

_Would it be possible to request the following information, of the parts thereof which are held for the financial year 2023/2024, relating to prescriptions written in England and dispensed in England, breaking down each are by the Totals, dispensing by Pharmacies, Dispensing Doctors and Appliance Contractors - The total number of prescription items (including a breakdown by concessionary lines, generic medicines, branded medicines and appliances) and a breakdown by the numbers which are discountable and zero discount -The total cost before clawback for prescription items (including a breakdown by concessionary lines, generic medicines, branded medicines and appliances) and a breakdown by those discountable and zero discount, showing the amount of discount/clawback deducted by supplier type and category._

##Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

For the purposes of this response, we will use the following terminology:

'Dispenser Account Type' - refers to the type of claimant that can be either 'English Pharmacy', 'English Dispensing Doctor' or 'English Appliance Contractor'.

'Prescribed Item/Discount Type' - refers to the type of item and can be generic drug, branded drug, appliance, zero discount or an item to which a price concession was applicable.

'Discount' - the amount deducted from the total basic price before reimbursement according to the deduction scales given below. This is our interpretation of the word "clawback" in the question:

- For pharmacy contractors - the 'deduction scale' is described in the Drug Tariff Part V for pharmacy contractors - see for example 
https://www.drugtariff.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/#/00836417-DD/DC00835700/Part%20V%20-%20Deduction%20Scale%20(Pharmacy%20Contractors) 

- For appliance contractors - no deduction scale is applicable -see Drug Tariff Part I Clause 5B section 3.

- For Dispensing doctors - part 1 of Annex G in the General Medical Services Statement of Financial Entitlements - see for example 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66f6bde1e84ae1fd8592eabd/general-medical-services-statement-of-financial-entitlements-directions-2024.pdf 

"The amount of discount/clawback deducted by supplier type and category" is taken to mean the amount deducted according to the rules given above broken down by the type of dispenser and the type of item (concession, brand, generic appliance, zero discount).

NHSBSA does not hold totals for the total amount of the discount broken down by Prescribed Item Type or Discount Type. Discounts are calculated at account level and applied to the total reimbursement amount - this is because the deduction scales include elements that are based on the total of prices for the account over the month and are not applicable to each individual item - see the deduction scale information above for more information on how discounts were calculated and which elements relate to total costs and which relate to specific items.

The total discount amount for each Dispenser Account Type can be found in publicly available "PD1" Reports - see https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/prescription-data/dispensing-data/pd1-reports. Note in contrast to the data provided below on costs, items the PD1 reports may effectively relate to some costs that were dispensed by English Dispensing Contractors but *not* prescribed by English prescribing organisations. We are unable to separate the amounts due to English prescribing as due to the discounts being applied to account level totals.

We are able to provide data on the total number of items and the cost before deductions with the breakdown as follows. The attached file includes data for all prescription items that were submitted to NHSBSA for reimbursement by English Dispensers and prescribed by English Prescribers between April 2023 and March 2024. 

Specifically, the columns include the following information:

"DISPENSER_ACCOUNT_TYPE" – can be ‘English Appliance Contractor’, ‘English Dispensing Doctor’, or ‘English Pharmacy.

"PRESCRIBED_ITEM_DISCOUNT_TYPE" -  This gives the type of prescribed item as specified in the question and according to the item specific deduction scale in the Drug Tariff, can be DRA =   appliances , DRB = branded medicines , DRC = generic medicines  , ZD = zero discount,  or PC  = price concession.  Note if there is a price concession this will override the other categories that might also apply.

TOTAL_ITEMS - This is the number of times a product appears on a prescription form.

NET_INGREDIENT_COST_GBP – The total of Net Ingredient cost (NIC) which the basic price of a drug as stated in Part II Clause 8 of the Drug Tariff but please note that where a price concession for items listed in Part VIIIA of the Drug Tariff has been agreed between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price.

The data excludes: 

Items not dispensed, disallowed and those returned to the contractor for further clarification. 

Prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in Prisons, Hospitals and Private prescriptions.

Items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser.

__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: “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, clawback
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log