FOI-03864

Request   You asked us:   Last year you provided me with a response to a Freedom of Information request [Ref: 02788] in relation to the prescribing of drugs for erectile dysfunction (BNF 7.4.5).   Could you provide me with a similar response this year? Specifically, could you state:   For the 2025 calendar year please state how many prescriptions were issued for drugs of BNF 7.4.5 for erectile dysfunction? Please break these prescriptions down into age groups for the people they were prescribed to in the following age brackets (i) 0-9, (ii) 10-19, (iii) 20-29, (iv) 30-39, (v) 40-49, (vi) 50-59, (vii) 60-69, (viii) 70-79, (ix) 80-89 and (x) 90 and above. Also please state the age of the oldest person prescribed a medication from that category (BNF 7.4.5) in 2025?   In relation to the drugs prescribed in 2025 could you please state how many prescriptions, and the cost was for each of the chemicals within section 7.4.5.?   In relation to the 2025 calendar year please state for each CCG:   (i) how many prescriptions under 7.4.5 were made,   (ii) the cost of these prescriptions,   (iii) the total number of patients in that CCG that were provided with a prescription for this type of drug at any time during the year, and   (iv) the total number of male patients in this CCG.   Note: In relation to Question 3 I realise that CCGs no longer exist but could you give me the figures broken down from the ICBs so that the CCGs figures are discernible.   The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 29 May 2026   We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.   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.   We do not capture the clinical reason why a drug has been prescribed. Medication may be prescribed for reasons outside of its primary use.   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.   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 under NHS pharmacy advanced services.   Four files are provided:   FOI03864_PART_1_A answers : For the 2025 calendar year please state how many prescriptions were issued for drugs of BNF 7.4.5 for erectile dysfunction? Please break these prescriptions down into age groups for the people they were prescribed to in the following age brackets (i) 0-9, (ii) 10-19, (iii) 20-29, (iv) 30-39, (v) 40-49, (vi) 50-59, (vii) 60-69, (viii) 70-79, (ix) 80-89 and (x) 90 and above.   FOI03864_PART_1_B answers : Also please state the age of the oldest person prescribed a medication from that category (BNF 7.4.5) in 2025?   FOI03864_PART_2 answers : In relation to the drugs prescribed in 2025 could you please state how many prescriptions, and the cost was for each of the chemicals within section 7.4.5.?   FOI03864_PART_3 answers:  in relation to the 2025 calendar year please state for each CCG: (i) how many prescriptions under 7.4.5 were made, (ii) the cost of these prescriptions, (iii) the total number of patients in that CCG that were provided with a prescription for this type of drug at any time during the year, and (iv) the total number of male patients in this CCG.   Time Period   January 2025 to December 2025.   Drugs   Limited to drugs prescribed in the BNF Paragraph 070405 - Drugs for erectile dysfunction.  Please note that the BNF paragraph does not guarantee the clinical indication.   Organisation Data   Prescribing is limited to prescribing in GP practices in English SICBLs only.   Prescribing for query 3 has been split at Sub-integrated care board level (SICBL), formerly Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).   Identified patients/patient counts   For Part 3 patients have been counted only if their NHS number was captured during NHSBSA processing (regardless of their gender).  The patient's NHS number may not be captured if, for example, it was not known at the time of writing the prescription, or it was hand-written on a paper prescription, and the OCR scanners were unable to read it.  This does not affect the item counts - all items are included for unidentified patients.   A patient may appear in more than one count, for example multiple SICBL if they have prescribing in multiple SICBLs, or multiple age groups.  Therefore, you must not aggregate patient counts or present them in any way other than in these data sets.    Patient age   Prescription data is derived from prescriptions sent to us for payment.   Patient age can come from different sources and we record the best available information at the time of processing. Patient age may come from external data sources such as the Electronic Prescribing System (EPS), the NHS Personal Demographics Service (PDS), or from the NHSBSA optical character recognition process used to extract data from paper prescriptions. However, as with any large-scale data processing, a small margin of error is possible. This does not affect the item counts - all items are included for unidentified patients.   Patients may appear in more than one age band so you must not aggregate patient counts or present them in any way other than in these data sets.   Data Queries   Please contact  [email protected]  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  [email protected] . 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.