Response Date: 25 Aug 2005
I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the Authority. As part of my duty to advise and assist, may I draw your attention to the fact that the Authority does not record patient details on our computer systems as these are not required as part of the payment process, therefore we can only identify which drugs have been prescribed to children by physically searching the batches of prescriptions of chemists in the West Midlands area. Given that a typical chemist batch consists of over 5,000 prescriptions per month and that there are over three hundred chemists in the West Midlands area, it is an impractical task to undertake.