Prescription items and cost by area, GP cluster, BNF chapter and year

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Next update expected:September 2027

Updates

16th July 2026

This publication includes the release of data for financial years between April 2024 to March 2025 and April 2023 to March 2024, the financial year April 2025 to March 2026 and revisions to the financial year April 2024 to March 2025. Revisions to the financial year 2024 to 2025 adjust data values to include a relatively small number of items (less than 0.5% of the total) prescribed in non-primary care contractor settings such as specialist continence services, prisons and police stations. These were previously excluded as they could not be mapped to primary care clusters but are now included as unknown clusters. A small number of prescriptions which were previously mapped to primary care clusters, but we cannot confidently map to clusters currently have been moved to unknown clusters.

2nd October 2025
Dataset first published.

Main information

Designation
Official statistics
Data provider
NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Data source
Prescribing Services
Time period covered
April 2014 to March 2026
Dataset ID
5dc38a04-cc59-42a9-bce7-31ae8c5b15db

Overview

Summary of dataset and variables

This dataset is based on items prescribed by any Welsh general practice staff member, qualified to prescribe, which are subsequently dispensed in the community in the UK.

'Items’ refer to each different medicine or appliance listed on a prescription regardless of quantity or volume. Only items which are dispensed are counted.

Net ingredient cost, measured in pounds sterling, is the underlying cost of the item, before any additional fees (for example, dispensing fees to pharmacies) or discounts (NHS clawbacks) are applied.

The British National Formulary (BNF) is a pharmaceutical reference book containing information and advice on prescribing. Every item prescribed is categorized by its BNF chapter. In the financial year 2025 to 2026 there were 22 different chapters.

A 'cluster' is a collaborative way of providing health services in Wales, which brings together services provided by general practices, other primary care services, district nurses, social services and the third sector

Clusters are not based on exact geographic areas, but bring together neighbouring service providers. Unknown clusters contain to relatively small number of items (less than 0.5% of the total) prescribed in non-primary care contractor settings such as specialist continence services, prisons and police stations which we cannot map to a primary care cluster. However, they also include a small number of prescriptions which we cannot confidently map to a cluster due to possible data entry errors.

For data prior to the financial year visit either ‘Costs and items prescribed through general practices, Wales’ for Wales data back to 1973, or 'Items prescribed through general practices by BNF chapter and health board' for data by health board back to the financial year 2001 to 2002. In this dataset, some health board values may differ slightly as some prescriptions were previously assigned to health boards that can no longer be confidently assigned.

The number of items prescribed, and their associated costs are based on the financial year recorded which may in a select number of cases be different than the year written.

Data collection or calculation

Prescriptions data are obtained from Prescribing Services, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership and are based on information on prescription forms sent by the prescriber for payment.

The Welsh Reference Data and Terminology Service (WRTS) in Digital Health and Care Wales are responsible for mainatining lists of clusters, with look ups to match each general practice to a cluster.

Changes are infrequent, but cluster names and 'boundaries' can change over time. In addition, constituent general practices may move in and out of clusters.

Statistical quality

See associated statistical release and quality report for detailed notes, background and definitions.

Related reports

Published by

Organisation
Welsh Government
Contact email
stats.healthinfo@gov.wales