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Prototype Prescribing Outlier Dashboard for Daventry 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 Daventry PCN is higher than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Methyl salicylate/levomenthol 17 Rubefacients, topical NSAIDS, capsaicin and poultice 1,410 0.01 0.00 0.00 33.35
Naphazoline hydrochloride 6 Other anti-inflammatory preparations 307 0.02 0.00 0.00 6.95
Chlorhexidine gluconate 4 Preparations for minor cuts and abrasions 6 0.67 0.02 0.10 6.63
Podophyllotoxin 14 Preparations for warts and calluses 31 0.45 0.06 0.07 5.94
Baricitinib 3 Rheumatic disease suppressant drugs 1,560 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.78
Sodium clodronate 35 Bisphosphonates and other drugs 2,184 0.02 0.00 0.00 5.64
Salbutamol 20 Compound bronchodilator preparations 142 0.14 0.01 0.02 5.48
Co-phenotrope (Diphenox hydrochloride/atropine sulfate) 7 Antimotility drugs 522 0.01 0.00 0.00 5.24
Dapagliflozin/metformin 183 Other antidiabetic drugs 5,208 0.04 0.00 0.01 4.87
Nefopam hydrochloride 1,076 Non-opioid analgesics and compound preparations 14,000 0.08 0.01 0.01 4.76

Prescribing where Daventry PCN is lower than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Procyclidine hydrochloride 88 Antimuscarinic drugs used in parkinsonism 183 0.48 0.85 0.11 -3.44
Salicylic acid 0 Preparations for warts and calluses 31 0.00 0.65 0.22 -3.00
    Methylprednisolone acetate 0 Local corticosteroid injections 519 0.00 0.73 0.29 -2.52
      Loperamide hydrochloride 515 Antimotility drugs 522 0.99 1.00 0.00 -2.25
      Insulin glargine 252 Intermediate and long-acting insulins 2,356 0.11 0.32 0.11 -1.98
      Other emollient preparations 807 Emollients 1,000 0.81 0.89 0.04 -1.94
      Ketoconazole 97 Shampoos and some other scalp preparations 282 0.34 0.50 0.08 -1.89
      Combined ethinylestradiol 30mcg 810 Combined hormonal contraceptives 1,107 0.73 0.81 0.04 -1.87
      Macrogol 3350 2,283 Osmotic laxatives 3,877 0.59 0.72 0.07 -1.85
      Baclofen 664 Skeletal muscle relaxants 1,111 0.60 0.81 0.12 -1.83