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Creating a new NHS England: Health Education England, NHS Digital and NHS England have merged. More about the merger.

Prescribing data

Prescribing is the most common patient-level intervention in the NHS, and covers all sectors of care: primary, hospital, public and community health. It is the second highest area of spending in the NHS, after staffing costs.

Our prescribing team extracts and analyses prescribing data to identify trends and variation, and to support national policy. We produce reports and publications. We work closely with a range of organisations which have an interest in this information, including the NHS Business Services Authority, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the Department of Health.