The information is not available in the requested format. The data provided in the following tables are for the number of items prescribed for diamorphine hydrochloride and methadone hydrochloride in the former Carlisle and District Primary Care Trust (PCT) and Cumbria PCT (after October 2006).
Prescriber name Total items diamorphine hydrochloride 2003 Carlisle and District PCT 467 2004 Carlisle and District PCT 489 2005 Carlisle and District PCT 343 2006 Carlisle and District PCT 292 2006 Cumbria PCT1 424
Prescriber name Total items methadone hydrochloride 2003 Carlisle and District PCT 1,436 2004 Carlisle and District PCT 1,466 2005 Carlisle and District PCT 1,622 2006 Carlisle and District PCT 1,331 2006 Cumbria PCT1 4,342 1 Cumbria PCT was formed in October 2006 and consists of Carlisle and District PCT, Eden Valley PCT, West Cumbria PCT and part of Morecambe Bay PCT.
ePACT Data
This information was obtained from the prescribing analysis and cost tool (PACT) system, which covers prescriptions prescribed by general practitioners, nurses, pharmacists and others in England and dispensed in the community in the United Kingdom. For data at PCT level, prescriptions written by a prescriber located in a particular PCT but dispensed outside that PCT will be included in the PCT in which the prescriber is based. Prescriptions written in England but dispensed outside England are included. Prescriptions written in hospitals/clinics that are dispensed in the community, prescriptions dispensed in hospitals and private prescriptions are not included in PACT data. It is important to note this as some BNF sections have a high proportion of prescriptions written in hospitals that are dispensed in the community.
For example, BNF chapter 4, Central Nervous System, has a fair proportion of items written in mental health clinics that are dispensed in the community—these prescriptions are not included in PACT data.
Prescription items
Prescriptions are written on a prescription form known as a FP10. Each single item written on the form is counted as a prescription item.
PCT level data
A PCT will only appear in the PACT system if a prescription has been made within the time period that the data spans. Hence, the total number of PCTs will vary for different BNF chapters/sections. Blank fields are indicative of PCTs which have ceased to exist (or come into existence) either because they have merged with one or more other PCTs or have been officially renamed during the time period for which data has been requested.
The sum of the data for all PCTs does not equal the total England figure, because the total England figure includes unidentified Doctors (not possible for the Prescriptions Pricing Division to allocate to a PCT).
BNF classifications
The prescription cost analysis system uses the therapeutic classifications defined in the BNF. No information on why a drug is prescribed is available and since drugs can be prescribed to treat more than one condition it is impossible to separate the different conditions that a drug was prescribed for.