Prescription items dispensed from pharmacies (FOI)

Request 

Please provide the number of prescription items dispensed from each pharmacy on Jersey, by month, for last three years. 

Response 

The attached table shows the number of prescriptions dispensed in Jersey by community pharmacies by month for the last three years.

Prescription items dispensed (pdf) 

The data is not released split by pharmacy as this is deemed commercially sensitive information. 

Articles 25 and 33(b) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 have therefore been applied.

Articles applied

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest Test

Whilst it is accepted that the public may have an interest in the number pf prescriptions dispensed by each pharmacy, it is believed that due to the high proportion of single handed and fully independent pharmacies, the exact prescription volumes would allow an estimation of their income to be made by their competitors.