The data covers the following for each individual GP practice:

• Prescribed and dispensed medicines (by chemical name), dressings and appliances (at section level);
• The total number of prescription items prescribed and then dispensed;
• The total Net Ingredient Cost and the total Actual Cost of prescription items.

The data, which does not contain any patient identifiable data or list individual prescriptions, covers the month of September 2011. It is available in comma-separated values (CSV) format and is very large in size, with more than four million rows of data. The data can be accessed, along with background information and interpretation guidance, on the NHS IC website at: transparency.

New data, each covering a subsequent month, will be made available from January 2012 on a monthly basis.

The data is being released as part of the government's commitment to transparency in the public sector and as part of its vision for the use of GP practice level prescribing data to support its Plan for Growth. It is also available today through www.data.gov.uk.

In support of the transparency agenda, the NHS IC has been releasing the underlying data for all of its statistical publications and has made 680 datasets available over the past 12 months on its website and at www.data.gov.uk.

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
2. For media enquiries please call 0845 257 6990 or mediaenquiries@ic.nhs.uk