FOI-03946

Request   You asked us:  Please can I request the MARCH 2026 - MAY 2026 period end data for the total number of patients prescribed liothyronine set out by ICB. I would like to have the data in the old ICB structure if that is possible? Please also run this data for December 2022   To be clear it will be 1 line per ICB e.g. BNSSG X patients.   The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 4 July 2026.  We requested clarification on 16 July 2026  Please can you confirm if you would like this data aggregated by ICB or Sub-Integrated ICB (SICBL)   You responded on 16 July 2026  Please can I get this at an ICB level rather than the sub level.   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.  NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for pharmacy contractors, appliance contractors, dispensing doctors and for personal administration. 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 for 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 (DHSC) users.  Data source – ePACT2   Data in ePACT2 is sourced from the NHSBSA Data Warehouse and is derived from products prescribed on prescriptions and dispensed in the community. The data captured from prescription processing is used to calculate reimbursement and remuneration. It includes items prescribed in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Guernsey/Alderney, Jersey, and Isle of Man which have been dispensed in the community in England. English prescribing that has been dispensed in Wales, Scotland, Guernsey/Alderney, Jersey, and Isle of Man is also included.   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   Time period   The data is split into two separate time periods.  Part 1 is aggregated data for March – May 2026.  Part 2 is for the month of December 2022.  Dataset   The data provides the number of unique identified patients prescribed the chemical substance Liothyronine sodium (BNF 0602010M0).  Organisation data   The data provided is for prescriptions prescribed in England and dispensed in the community split by ICB. Please note that the ICB structure changed with effect from April 2026. A date with the letter 'C' in brackets - example (C 01-Apr-26) against an ICB indicates that this organisation is closed as of the date stated.  BNF classification   The British National Formulary (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 eight 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. Most of such items are dressings and appliances which NHS Prescription Services has classified into four pseudo BNF chapters (20 to 23).  Patient identification     Where patient identifiable figures have been reported they are based on the information captured during the prescription processing activities. Patient details cannot be captured from every prescription form. For this dataset, patient information was available for 98.67% of prescription items for March – May 2026 and for 98.02% for December 2022.  The patient count figures are based on a distinct count of NHS number as captured from the prescription image.    The figures for the number of identifiable patients should not be combined and reported at any other level than provided as this may result in the double counting of patients. For example, a single patient could appear in the results for multiple time periods.    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: “ePACT2, 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.