PHS FOI 2026-002419
- Date of request
- 28 May 2026
- Date of response
- 11 June 2026
- FOI request ID
- PHS FOI 2026-002419
- Pharmacy and prescribing
Request
“I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
I am working on an independent, non-commercial, public-interest data project documenting ADHD prescribing trends across the four UK countries. PHS has published data on the dispensing of private prescriptions for ADHD medicines (BNF Section 4.4) in Scotland from January 2015 onwards, which I am very grateful to have access to. To present that data fairly to readers, and to compare it accurately to equivalent data published by the corresponding statistical authorities in the other three UK countries, I need to understand how it is collected and what coverage caveats apply. This request is therefore for *methodology and documentation* rather than further data.
Information requested
1. **System start date.** When did PHS (or its predecessor organisations under NHS National Services Scotland) begin systematic recording of private prescription items dispensed in Scotland for the controlled drugs covered by this dataset? If different historical systems have been used over the period 2015–2025, please describe each in turn, with the dates of transition between them.”