Open datasets
Clean, documented aggregates of NHS prescribing and dispensing data for England, published as CSV and refreshed each month when the NHS Business Services Authority releases new figures. Every dataset says what it measures, how it was derived and what it cannot tell you, because a figure without its caveats is worse than no figure.
Free to use, including commercially, under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The catalogue
Most prescribed medicines in England, by month
The 500 most-dispensed chemical substances in English primary care each month, with items and cost.
33,000 rows · 1.8 MB · CSV · January 2021 to June 2026
NHS primary-care prescribing spend by BNF chapter, monthly
Monthly items and net ingredient cost for each of the 23 BNF chapters, from 2021 onwards.
1,384 rows · 73 KB · CSV · January 2021 to June 2026
Antidepressant prescribing in England by ICB, monthly
Antidepressant items and cost by Integrated Care Board and month, with each ICB's share of local prescribing.
2,132 rows · 212 KB · CSV · May 2022 to June 2026
ADHD medication prescribing in England by ICB, monthly
ADHD medication items and cost by Integrated Care Board and month, with each ICB's share of local prescribing.
2,132 rows · 207 KB · CSV · May 2022 to June 2026
GLP-1 receptor agonist prescribing in England, monthly
Semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide items and cost, nationally and by ICB.
2,250 rows · 241 KB · CSV · January 2021 to June 2026
Antibiotic prescribing in England, monthly national series
Monthly antibacterial items and cost nationally, plus the 20 most-prescribed antibiotics.
1,386 rows · 103 KB · CSV · January 2021 to June 2026
Highest-cost medicines to the NHS in primary care, monthly top 100
The 100 medicines costing English primary care most each month, by net ingredient cost.
6,600 rows · 412 KB · CSV · January 2021 to June 2026
NHS hospital medicines: biggest cost movers, monthly
The 100 largest hospital medicines by indicative cost each month, with year-on-year change.
6,200 rows · 561 KB · CSV · April 2021 to June 2026
NHS prescribing summary by Integrated Care Board, monthly
Items and net ingredient cost for all 42 ICBs, every month, with cost per item.
2,082 rows · 216 KB · CSV · May 2022 to June 2026
NHS primary-care prescribing in England: headline monthly series
The national totals — items, net ingredient cost and cost per item — one row per month.
66 rows · 2 KB · CSV · January 2021 to June 2026
How to cite
Each dataset page carries a copyable credit line. In short: credit the NHSBSA as the source of the underlying data, and link to PharmaInsight for the derived dataset. If you are citing a figure in something durable, use the version-pinned file rather than the “latest” one — that copy will not change when next month's data lands.
See also the per-page CSV downloads, the data sources we import from, and our methodology.