Community Dispensing
Welcome to the NHSScotland Community Dispensing section of Information Services Division (ISD) website.
The Prescribing Team within ISD maintains a detailed database of all NHS prescriptions dispensed in the community in Scotland. The information is supplied by Practitioner Services Division (PSD) and is sourced through an established centrally managed national payment system.
Further information on PSD can be obtained by contacting nss.psdhelp@nhs.net or by visiting the PSD website.
These data are augmented with information on prescriptions written in Scotland that were dispensed elsewhere in the United Kingdom. All these prescriptions are dispensed by community pharmacies, dispensing doctors and a small number of specialist appliance suppliers.
GPs write the vast majority of these prescriptions, with the remainder written by other authorised prescribers such as nurses and dentists. Also included are prescriptions written in hospitals that are dispensed in the community, but exclude prescriptions dispensed within hospitals.
The data are used for a wide variety of purposes which include: health services research, performance management and providing information to support health promotion. It also supports various NHSScotland initiatives such as information support for clinical governance, national audits and medicines management.
Use the left-hand navigation links to access further information on prescribing and dispensing.
For further information please contact us at nss.isdprescribing@nhs.net or view team contact details.
Revisions to Prescribing Data
Generic Prescribing Data
Generic prescribing figures for financial year 2010/11 have been removed as an issue affecting the national prescribing data held and reported by ISD was identified. Consequently, the current reporting method no longer correctly reports on generic prescribing rates. All generic prescribing figures for 2010/11 have been replaced with figures previously published for 2009/10.
We hope to identify a solution soon and are confident that we will be able again to report accurate generic prescribing rates in the near future.
Prescription Cost Analysis
The Prescription Cost Analysis has been revised for financial year 2010/11. Citalopram and Sertaline were in short supply throughout 2010/11 which meant data for these drugs were automatically coded to 'Dummy'. This coding issue has now been resolved and data has been assigned to relevant approved name and BNF sub-section.
Changes
Users of prescribing and dispensing statistics will have noticed recent changes to the format and presentation of the publication of prescribing and dispensing Statistics by ISD. Further information on these changes are detailed within the changes document 
[52kb].
Uses
The uses of statistics on prescribing in Scotland document [100kb] describes the main ways in which users access and use statistics produced by ISD on prescribing and dispensing in the community in Scotland.
