Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

I would like to request the following information: How many prescriptions were written for an unlicenced medicine for compassionate use in the UK in 2024? How many prescriptions were written for an unlicenced medicine for a named patient in the UK in 2024? How many prescriptions for all medicines were written in the UK in 2024?

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 24 June 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Our response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds some of the information you have requested.

NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for pharmacy contractors, appliance contractors, dispensing doctors and personal administration. The information is then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors in England for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings. There are other arrangements 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.

Question 1: How many prescriptions were written for an unlicenced medicine for compassionate use in the UK in 2024?

Following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHSBSA.

The clinical indication for a prescription is not collected as part of this process, therefore it would not be possible to tell which prescriptions were written for compassionate use.

Question 2: How many prescriptions were written for an unlicenced medicine for a named patient in the UK in 2024?

Following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHSBSA.

The NHSBSA does not hold information on the clinical indication for which a prescription was issued. We are therefore unable to determine whether a product has been prescribed for ‘off-label’ use, meaning it was intended for treatment outside the scope of its approved license.

Question 3: How many prescriptions for all medicines were written in the UK in 2024?

Under Section 21 of the FOIA, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

The number of items prescribed in England in 2024 can be found at the link below, in the "National Summary Calendar Year" file from the resource list:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/prescription-cost-analysis-england/prescription-cost-analysis-england-202425

Please see the following link to view the section 21 in full https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/21

The NHSBSA does not hold this information for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Advice and Assistance

Having reviewed your request, I believe that it is possible that NHS Wales, NHS Scotland and Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland) may hold some or all of the information you require about items prescribed in those areas of the UK. They can be contacted at:

NHS Wales Freedom of Information Office Public Health Wales 2 Capital Quarter Tyndall Street Cardiff CF10 4BZ phw.foi@wales.nhs.uk

NHS National Services Scotland Gyle Square 1 South Gyle Crescent Edinburgh EH12 9EB nss.foi@nhs.scot

Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland)
Castle Buildings, Stormont, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT4 3SQ FOI@health-ni.gov.uk

Publishing this response

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02947

Your personal details will be removed from the published response.

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 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.