Skip to main content

Prototype Prescribing Outlier Dashboard for Hoylake Rd Met Ctr

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 Practices. From this we can calculate the “z-score”, which is a measure of how many standard deviations a given Practice 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 Practice's chemical:subparagraph ratios is provided, with this Practice'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 Hoylake Rd Met Ctr is higher than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Felodipine 1,308 Calcium-channel blockers 2,378 0.55 0.08 0.08 5.63
Irbesartan 555 Angiotensin-II receptor antagonists 1,071 0.52 0.09 0.08 5.27
Celecoxib 151 Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs 696 0.22 0.03 0.04 5.10
Liquid paraffin 12 Emollient bath and shower preparations 32 0.38 0.03 0.07 4.89
Exenatide 38 Other antidiabetic drugs 819 0.05 0.00 0.01 4.76
Betamethasone esters 82 Topical corticosteroids 591 0.14 0.03 0.02 4.43
Magnesium citrate 22 Magnesium 23 0.96 0.07 0.21 4.20
Combined ethinylestradiol 20mcg 53 Combined hormonal contraceptives 139 0.38 0.12 0.06 3.98
Bezafibrate 88 Lipid-regulating drugs 4,032 0.02 0.00 0.00 3.91
Balsalazide sodium 17 Aminosalicylates 118 0.14 0.02 0.03 3.82

Prescribing where Hoylake Rd Met Ctr is lower than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Combined ethinylestradiol 30mcg 73 Combined hormonal contraceptives 139 0.53 0.81 0.07 -3.96
Amlodipine 853 Calcium-channel blockers 2,378 0.36 0.76 0.11 -3.53
Famotidine 3 H2-Receptor antagonists 27 0.11 0.81 0.21 -3.33
Fluconazole 38 Triazole antifungals 74 0.51 0.85 0.13 -2.53
Estriol 0 Preparations for vaginal/vulval changes 55 0.00 0.45 0.20 -2.22
    Procyclidine hydrochloride 24 Antimuscarinic drugs used in parkinsonism 54 0.44 0.85 0.21 -1.94
    Losartan potassium 177 Angiotensin-II receptor antagonists 1,071 0.17 0.50 0.19 -1.81
    Naftidrofuryl oxalate 0 Peripheral vasodilators and related drugs 6 0.00 0.67 0.39 -1.73
      Other multivitamin preparations 127 Multivitamin preparations 270 0.47 0.82 0.21 -1.70
      Clobetasone butyrate 29 Topical corticosteroids 591 0.05 0.13 0.05 -1.69