Pharmacy data — sources & methodology

What the data covers

Pharmosphere holds a directory of around 12,700 active NHS community pharmacies across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with each pharmacy’s monthly NHS dispensing volume, the services it provides, and — where published — the NHS payments it received. A pharmacy is counted as “active” when it recorded dispensing in its nation’s latest published month.

What “items dispensed” means

An item is a single prescription line dispensed and reimbursed by the NHS. If a prescription is for one medicine, that is one item, regardless of the quantity or pack size. Item counts are the standard way to compare pharmacy dispensing volume, because they track how many prescriptions a pharmacy handles rather than the cash value of the medicines. Figures are monthly and cover NHS dispensing only — private prescriptions and over-the-counter sales are not included.

What EPS nominations mean

A nomination is a patient’s choice of the pharmacy that receives their electronic prescriptions. NHS England counts the active nominations held against each pharmacy in England from the NHS Spine, leaving out deceased, superseded, invalid and test patients. It is a count of patients who chose the pharmacy, not of patients served, and it says nothing about a pharmacy’s prescriptions that arrive by other routes. Distance-selling pharmacies and appliance contractors can hold very large numbers because they serve patients nationally.

Where it comes from

• England — NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) dispensing data and the NHS England pharmacy list; EPS nomination counts from NHS England’s nominated patient count by dispensing contract.
• Scotland — Public Health Scotland community pharmacy dispensing open data.
• Wales — NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) dispensing data and directory.
• Northern Ireland — HSC Business Services Organisation / Open Data NI dispensing data.
• Locations — postcode and place data from postcodes.io and the Office for National Statistics.

How current it is

Each nation publishes on its own schedule, so the latest available month differs between them — England’s NHSBSA data typically runs a couple of months behind the current month, which is normal, not out-of-date. Every pharmacy page shows the month its figures cover, and we refresh each nation’s data as soon as the new month is published.

EPS nominations are a count on a stated date, not a monthly total. NHS England published them weekly until October 2026 and monthly from then; each pharmacy page shows the date of the newest count and the change since the one before.

How to read it

These are official dispensing figures presented for information only. They describe NHS activity — they are not a statement of any pharmacy’s profit, turnover or performance, and gross NHS payments are mostly the reimbursed cost of medicines, not income. Use the figures to understand and compare NHS dispensing activity, not to infer a business’s financial health.

Licence & attribution