A copy of the information is attached.

NHSBSA Prescription Services process prescriptions and information is then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors (in England) for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings. 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 users.

Base data is derived from items prescribed on prescriptions and dispensed in the Community. The data retrieved from these prescriptions is processed to capture the prescriber, drugs and drug costs before being summarised where applicable. 

The data provided is based on England Community prescribing regardless of where it has been dispensed.

Please note that if a prescription was issued, but not presented for dispensing or was not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser, then it is not included in the data provided.

Rivaroxaban is the generic drug and Xarelto is a branded version of the drug.

The data excludes items dispensed in prisons, hospital and private prescriptions but does include dental, prison and hospital prescriptions which are dispensed in the community.

Monthly data has been provided to allow the data to be aggregated either by rolling year, calendar year or financial year.

Items shows the number of times a product appears on a prescription form not the quantity prescribed

Net Ingredient cost (NIC) is the basic price of a drug as stated in Part II Clause 8 of the Drug Tariff but please note that where a price concession for items listed in Part VIIIA of the Drug Tariff has been agreed between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price.