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Volume and cost of prescribing charts

These charts are updated each month and show up to five years' data.

They show the:

  • number and cost of items
  • number of items declared by pharmacy contractors

Number of items declared by pharmacy contractors in England

At the end of each month, pharmacy contractors submit the prescriptions they have dispensed during the month to NHS Prescription Services. We then calculate their reimbursement and remuneration. 

They include a completed submission document with their prescriptions, declaring how many prescription items are included in their account that month. Information is available in advance of the account being processed and is based on pharmacy declarations.

When the prescriptions have been processed, the charts are updated in the following month to reflect the actual figures.

Chart showing the number of items declared each month (Excel: 26KB)

Number and cost of items prescribed on NHS prescriptions in England

At the end of each month, we transfer the information captured from prescriptions to our information systems. ePACT2 provides information about prescribing on NHS prescriptions in England.

The data includes all NHS prescribing which has been dispensed in the community, except items prescribed by dentists. Since April 2015, items prescribed by hospitals on FP10HP forms have been included in this data.

Chart showing ePACT2 data for the number of items prescribed on NHS prescriptions (Excel: 33KB)

Chart showing ePACT2 data for the net ingredient cost of items prescribed on NHS prescriptions (Excel: 33KB)