FOI-02656

Thank you for your request for information about the following: 

##Request 

You asked us: 

‘Yes - I would like to request this information again now. Once completed please confirm if possible how long this request has taken to run.’ 

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 12 March 2025.  

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. 

##Original request 

‘I am requesting your assistance under the Freedom of Information Act and hope that this request is able to be fulfilled reasonably easily. 

I would like the same query as in FOI Request reference FOI-02364, however I would like this for October, November and December 2024 data - so each of those data months.’ 

##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. 

Your request took 360 minutes to complete. 

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. 

##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. 

##Data Source 

The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse. 

##Time Period 

A drug data limited to October 2024, November 2024 and December 2024 inclusive. B drug data looks at the 11 months before the A drug month so November 2023 to November 2024.  

##Organisation Data 

The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed in England. 

Drugs Drug group A is limited to drugs with the following BNF prefixes 0601023AB*, 0601023AI*, 0601023AQ*, 0601023AS*, 0601023AW*, 0601023AZ*, 0601023Y0* Drug group B is limited to drugs with the following BNF prefixes 0601011*, 0601012*, 0601021*, 0601022*, 0601040*, 0601023B*, 0601023I*, 0601023R*, 0601023S*, 0601023U*, 0601023V*, 0601023W*, 0601023X*, 0601023Z*, 0601023A0*, 0601023AA*, 0601023AC*, 0601023AD*, 0601023AE*, 0601023AF*, 0601023AG*, 0601023AH*, 0601023AJ*, 0601023AK*, 0601023AL*, 0601023AM*, 0601023AN*, 0601023AP*, 0601023AR*, 0601023AU*, 0601023AV*, 0601023AX*, 0601023AY* 

Identified Patients Prescriptions are only included if an NHS Number has been captured during NHSBSA processing. 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, patient information (NHS number) was available for 99.21% of A drug prescription items and 99.57% of B drug prescription items. 

The request includes multiple output .csv files, these are; 

FOI02656_part_1_England.csv FOI02656_part_1_ICB.csv FOI02656_part_2_and_4.csv FOI02656_part_3.csv FOI02656_part_5.csv 

##Part 1 caveats 

The part 1 files are a rerun of previous FOI-02253 for the updated time period 

Patients Data is limited to prescriptions from patients with prescribing from Drug Group A, with no prescribing from Drug Group B in the same month or the 11 previous months. This is consistent across both organisational data outputs. 

##BNF Code 

The BNF Code is a 15-digit code in which the first seven digits are allocated according to the categories in the BNF, and the last 8 digits represent the medicinal product, form, strength and the link to the generic equivalent product. NHS Prescription Services has created pseudo BNF chapters, which are not published, for items not included in BNF chapters 1 to 15. The majority of such items are dressings and appliances which NHS Prescription Services has classified into four pseudo BNF chapters (20 to 23). 

##Items 

Items shows the number of times a product appears on a prescription form not the quantity prescribed. 

##Total Quantity 

The total quantity for a presentation i.e. each specific reimbursed quantity of a drug or appliance multiplied by the number of items, accumulated.  

##Net Ingredient Cost (NIC(£)) 

Net Ingredient cost (NIC) is 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 VIII 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. NIC is given in Pounds Sterling. 

##Part 2 and 4 caveats 

Part 2 and 4 are for data at a national (England) level.  

Patients Data is limited to prescriptions from patients with prescribing from Drug Group A, with no prescribing from Drug Group B in the same month but having prescribing from drug group B in the 11 previous months.  

A_YEAR_MONTH is the year and month of the A drug  
A_PRESENTATION_BNF is the A drug presentation A_PRESENTATION_BNF_DESCRIPTION is the A drug presentation name B_YEAR_MONTH is the year and month of the B drug.  
B_PRESENTATION_BNF is the B drug presentation B_PRESENTATION_BNF_DESCRIPTION is the B drug presentation name B_ITEMS is the B drug item count  
B_PATIENT_COUNT is the B drug distinct patient count.  

The data should be viewed only for specific A drug presentations and months. For exampe limiting to A_YEAR_MONTH = 202408 and A_PRESENTATION_BNF = 0601023AQAAADAD will give you all the B drugs received, the 11 B months they were received in with item and patient counts for all patients recieving the selected A drug in the A month. As patients can receive multiple A drugs in multiple months, the B drug data is repeated for every combination of A drug and A month. The data should not be aggregated as this will result in double counting of both items and patients.  

##Part 3 caveats 

Part 3 is at a national (England) level.  

Patients Data is limited to patients who received prescribing of more than one BNF presentation from drug group A in the same month.  

##Part 5 caveats 

Part 5 data is presented with the prescribing organisation (ICB). 

Patients Data is limited to prescriptions from patients with prescribing from Drug Group A, with no prescribing from Drug Group B in the same month but having prescribing from drug group B in the 11 previous months.  

A_YEAR_MONTH is the year and month of the A drug  
A_ICB_CODE is the prescribing ICB for the A drug prescription  
A_ICB_NAME is the prescribing ICB name for the A drug prescription A_PRESENTATION_BNF is the A drug presentation A_PRESENTATION_BNF_DESCRIPTION is the A drug presentation name B_YEAR_MONTH is the year and month of the B drug  
B_PRESENTATION_BNF is the B drug presentation B_PRESENTATION_BNF_DESCRIPTION is the B drug presentation name B_ITEMS is the B drug item count  
B_PATIENT_COUNT is the B drug distinct patient count.  

The data should be viewed only for specific A drug presentations, months and ICBs. For exampe limiting to A_YEAR_MONTH = 202408, A_PRESENTATION_BNF = 0601023AQAAADAD and A_ICB_NAME = QHL will give you all the B drugs received, the 11 B months they were received in with item and patient counts for all patients recieving the selected A drug in the A month and A ICB. As patients can receive multiple A drugs in multiple months and ICBs, the B drug data is repeated for every combination of A drug, A month and A ICB. The data should not be aggregated as this will result in double counting of both items and patients.  

##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 Information Services Data Warehouse, 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, NHS Prescriptions
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log