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Prototype Prescribing Outlier Dashboard for Blackburn West PCN

At OpenPrescribing we are piloting a number of data-driven approaches to identify unusual prescribing and collect feedback on this prescribing to inform development of new tools to support prescribers and organisations to audit and review prescribing. These pilot results are provided for the interest of advanced users, although we don't know how relevant they are in practice. There is substantial variation in prescribing behaviours, across various different areas of medicine. Some variation can be explained by demographic changes, or local policies or guidelines, but much of the remaining variation is less easy to explain.

The DataLab is keen to hear your feedback on the results. You can do this by completing the following survey or emailing us at [email protected]. Please DO NOT INCLUDE IDENTIFIABLE PATIENT information in your feedback. All feedback is helpful, you can send short or detailed feedback.

This report has been developed to automatically identify prescribing patterns at a chemical level which are furthest away from “typical prescribing” and can be classified as an “outlier”. We calculate the number of prescriptions for each chemical in the BNF coding system, the count of all prescriptions within that chemical's BNF subparagraph, for prescriptions dispensed between June 2021 and December 2021. We then calculate the ratio of these counts along with the mean and standard deviation of those ratios across all PCNs. From this we can calculate the “z-score”, which is a measure of how many standard deviations a given PCN is from the population mean. We then rank your “z-scores” to find the top 10 results where prescribing is an outlier for prescribing higher than its peers and those where it is an outlier for prescribing lower than its peers.

For each outlier chemical, a kernel density estimation plot of all PCN's chemical:subparagraph ratios is provided, with this PCN's ratio overlaid in red.

It is important to remember that this information was generated automatically and it is therefore likely that some of the behaviour is warranted. This report seeks only to collect information about where this variation may be warranted and where it might not, to inform research on this topic. Our full analytical method code is openly available on GitHub here.

This is a new, experimental feature. We'd love to .

Prescribing where Blackburn West PCN is higher than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Insulin glargine/lixisenatide 34 Intermediate and long-acting insulins 2,586 0.01 0.00 0.00 14.72
Salbutamol 26 Compound bronchodilator preparations 175 0.15 0.01 0.02 5.81
Fluticasone propionate (Nasal) 1,047 Drugs used in nasal allergy 2,768 0.38 0.13 0.06 4.50
Dicycloverine hydrochloride compound preparations 63 Antispasmodic and other drugs altering gut motility 2,868 0.02 0.00 0.00 4.21
Canagliflozin/metformin 80 Other antidiabetic drugs 8,784 0.01 0.00 0.00 4.10
Terbutaline sulphate 836 Selective beta(2)-agonists 14,259 0.06 0.02 0.01 4.04
Fluocinolone acetonide 150 Topical corticosteroids 5,871 0.03 0.01 0.01 3.58
Tetracaine 85 Local anaesthetics 610 0.14 0.02 0.03 3.49
Tiotropium bromide/olodaterol 135 Compound bronchodilator preparations 175 0.77 0.22 0.16 3.37
Triamcinolone acetonide 103 Drugs used in nasal allergy 2,768 0.04 0.01 0.01 3.23

Prescribing where Blackburn West PCN is lower than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Prucalopride 20 Other drugs used in constipation 66 0.30 0.73 0.19 -2.32
Tamsulosin hydrochloride 2,732 Drugs for urinary retention 3,276 0.83 0.92 0.04 -2.28
Salbutamol 11,928 Selective beta(2)-agonists 14,259 0.84 0.90 0.03 -2.14
Duloxetine hydrochloride 469 Other antidepressant drugs 9,359 0.05 0.16 0.05 -2.02
Fluticasone furoate 79 Drugs used in nasal allergy 2,768 0.03 0.23 0.11 -1.88
Umeclidinium bromide/vilanterol 8 Compound bronchodilator preparations 175 0.05 0.50 0.25 -1.82
Melatonin 111 Hypnotics 4,586 0.02 0.18 0.09 -1.76
Oral rehydration salts 72 Oral sodium and water 231 0.31 0.65 0.20 -1.72
Ketoconazole 176 Shampoos and some other scalp preparations 491 0.36 0.50 0.08 -1.72
Bimatoprost 143 Treatment of glaucoma 5,119 0.03 0.11 0.05 -1.70