The annual PCA National Statistics publication that was previously released by NHS Digital is now produced by NHSBSA.
The annual PCA publication is a National Statistic release. National Statistics Status means that PCA meets the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality, public value, and complies with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics.
There is a small difference between the annual PCA release and the monthly administrative data. This means that they may not match exactly. In the annual PCA National Statistics, the classification of a drug is taken from the latest month in the data, and all data attributed to that classification even if it has changed throughout the year. The monthly PCA data uses the classification of the drug as it was in the month the data relates to.
For example, if a drug changed classification in July of the given year to an appliance, in the annual PCA National Statistics all data would be shown against the record that has been classified as an appliance. In the monthly PCA data, the drug would be shown as a drug in the months up to July, and then would be displayed as an appliance in the July data onwards.
This would also apply if a drug changed classification from being a generic drug with only proprietary versions available (class 2) to a generic drug with generic versions available (class 1). In the annual PCA National Statistics, all data for the year would be shown against the class 1 record. In the monthly PCA data, it would be shown against the class 2 record up until the month that the drug changed classification.
