FOI-02829

Thank you for your request for information about the following: 

##Request 

‘Please provide the number of patients in England who had prescriptions dispensed between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024, grouped by the number of unique community pharmacies they used during that period. For each group (e.g. patients who used 1 pharmacy, 2 pharmacies, etc.), please provide: Number of unique pharmacies used, Number of patients, Total number of items dispensed. Please exclude hospital and dental prescribing. Include only items prescribed and dispensed in England’ 

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 16 May 2025.  

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). 

##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 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. 

##Data Source 

The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse. 

##Exclusions 

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. 

• Items supplied as part of a Pharmacy First consultation or service. 

##Time Period 

January 2024 - December 2024. 

##Identified Patients 

Prescriptions are only included if an NHS Number has been captured during NHSBSA processing. 

##Organisation Data 

Limited to prescriptions prescribed in England, excluding Dentists and Hospitals, and dispensed by English pharmacies.  

##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 Prescriptions, Prescribing, Unique pharmacies
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log