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 | Total opioid prescribing (as oral morphine equivalence) per 1000 patients |
|---|---|
| Why it matters | The Opioids Aware project seeks to improve prescribing of opioid analgesia. There is little evidence that opioids are helpful in long term pain, and the risk of harm increases significantly above 120mg morphine (or equivalent) per day, without much increase in benefit. This measure describes the total Oral Morphine Equivalence (OME) in ALL opioid prescribing (excluding prescribing for addiction) including low-dose opioids in drugs such as co-codamol and co-dydramol. This measure is experimental and should be used with caution, as OME conversions vary in different reference sources. A list of the dose conversions and references used can be found here. We have written a paper about the increase in opioid prescribing in England since 1999, which can be found in The Lancet Psychiatry. |
| Tags | Standard, Opioids, Pain, Safety |
| Implies cost savings | No |
| History | View change history on GitHub → |
SELECT
CAST(month AS DATE) AS month,
practice AS practice_id,
SUM(total_ome) AS numerator
FROM measures.opioid_total_ome
GROUP BY month, practice_idSELECT
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