Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA data) Dataset#
Last modified: 21 Oct 2026
1. Summary#
Dataset about all prescriptions that have been submitted by prescribers to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) for reimbursement purposes. The dataset includes prescriptions issued by pharmacists, dentists and doctors in general practice, community clinics, dentists, hospital clinics and community nursing homes. The prescriptions may have been written in England and dispensed UK-wide or written elsewhere in the UK and dispensed in England.
| Dataset Descriptor | Dataset-specific Information |
|---|---|
| Name of Dataset in TRE | NHSE_PCM |
| Citation (APA) | Data Services, NHS England (NHSE). (2025). NHS England: Medicines Dispensed in Primary Care (NHSBSA data). UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC). https://doi.org/10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00375-04 |
| Download Citation | Citeproc JSON BibTeX RIS |
| Series | NHS England |
| Owner | NHS England |
| Copyright | Copyright © (2026), NHS England. Data re-used with the permission of NHS England. All rights reserved. |
| Temporal Coverage in the TRE | 04/2018 - ongoing |
| Geographical Coverage | England |
| Participant Count | 264723 |
| Number of Variables | 58 |
| Number of Observations | 45260239 |
| Key Link | https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-tools-and-services/data-services/medicines-dispensed-in-primary-care-nhsbsa-data |
| Keywords | None |
| Latest Extract Date | 2024-04-26 |
| Specific Restrictions to Data Use | Research must be related to the safety and effectiveness of medicines if studies with a Covid-19 restriction are included. A Codelist must be completed. |
| Build a Data Request | https://explore.ukllc.ac.uk/ |
2. Metrics#
| Cohort | Participant Count |
|---|---|
| AIRWAVE | 34116 |
| ALSPAC | 5193 |
| BCS70 | 6416 |
| BIB | 14080 |
| ELSA | 7151 |
| EPICN | 14676 |
| EXCEED | 9851 |
| GLAD | 70861 |
| MCS | 17122 |
| NCDS58 | 6933 |
| NEXTSTEP | 5172 |
| NIHRBIO_COPING | 15899 |
| NSHD46 | 2450 |
| TEDS | 7277 |
| TRACKC19 | 13433 |
| TWINSUK | 11562 |
| UKHLS | 6122 |
| UKREACH | 16409 |
3. Version History#
| Version | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version Date | 21 Dec 2022 | 13 Apr 2023 | 26 Apr 2024 | 09 Sep 2025 |
| Number of Variables | 57 | 57 | 57 | 58 |
| Number of Observations | 19239373 | 22859974 | 32640281 | 45260239 |
| DOI | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00375-01 | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00375-02 | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00375-03 | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00375-04 |
| Change Log | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00375-01/activities | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00375-02/activities | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00375-03/activities | 10.71760/ukllc-dataset-00375-04/activities |
4. Documentation#
We are currently building a documentation storage system which will host useful documents related to datasets and data owners. We will surface these documents on Guidebook.
5. Useful Syntax#
Below we will include syntax that may be helpful to other researchers in the UK LLC TRE. For longer scripts, we will include a snippet of the code plus a link to the UK LLC GitHub repository where you can find the full scripts.