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NHS England Low Priority Treatment - rubefacients

Below are the database queries which are used to create this measure. These are run against a copy of the BSA prescribing data which we store in Google BigQuery. We're working on making our BigQuery tables publicly available at which point it will be possible to run and modify these queries yourself. But even where code and database queries are not directly useable by others we believe it is always preferable to make them public.

Description Cost of rubefacients per 1000 patients
Why it matters Rubifacients deep heat rubs and ointments are used to provide pain relief in musculoskeletal conditions. However, the BNF states that the evidence available does not support the use of topical rubefacients in acute or chronic musculoskeletal pain. This measure excludes topical NSAIDs and Capsaicin as per NHS England guidance.
Tags Cost Saving, Efficacy, NHS England Low Priority, Pain
Implies cost savings Yes
History View change history on GitHub →

Numerator SQL

SELECT
     CAST(month AS DATE) AS month,
     practice AS practice_id,
     SUM(actual_cost) AS numerator
 FROM hscic.normalised_prescribing
 WHERE bnf_code IN ("100302000BBBTA0", "100302000BBBXA0", "1003020F0AAAAAA", "1003020F0BBAAAA", "1003020F0BBABAA", "1003020I0AAAAAA", "1003020I0BBAAAA", "1003020L0AAAAAA", "1003020L0AAACAC", "1003020N0AAAAAA", "1003020N0AAABAB", "1003020N0AAAFAF", "1003020N0AAATAT", "1003020N0AAAYAY", "1003020N0AABABA", "1003020N0BDAAAK", "1003020N0BFACA0", "1003020N0BFAFAY", "1003020N0BIAAAT", "1003020N0BIADA0", "1003020N0BIAHBA", "1003020N0BIAIA0", "1003020N0BIAJA0", "1003020N0BUABA0", "1003020T0AAAAAA", "1003020T0BBAAAA", "1003020W0AAAAAA", "1003020W0AAABAB", "1003020W0BBAAAB", "1003020W0BBABAA", "1003020W0BBACAB", "1003020W0BBADAA", "1003020Y0AAABAB", "1003020Y0AAACAC", "1003020Y0AAADAD", "1003020Y0BDAAAB", "1003020Y0BDABAC", "1003020Y0BDACAD")
 GROUP BY month, practice_id

Denominator SQL

SELECT
     CAST(month AS DATE) AS month,
     practice AS practice_id,
     SUM(total_list_size / 1000.0) AS denominator
 FROM hscic.practice_statistics
 GROUP BY month, practice_id
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