The ODD implementation is now complete.
ePACT2
This first release shows data from December 2019 back to January 2014 in the new format. January 2020 data will be released in the new format only.
Detailed Prescribing Report
This shows the data in the new format aligned to dm+d including historic re-mapped data from January 2018 to December 2019.
High level changes
You’ll see the following changes as a result of moving to a single drug database:
- Naming convention (reporting name)
- BNF Coding
- Quantities
- ADQs / DDDs (usage data)
You can also now view mapping documents for BNF presentation code changes, BNF presentation name changes and Special container quantity changes.
Naming convention (reporting name)
Naming convention will change from abbreviated drug_name, formulation, strength to full name of drug / appliance, strength, formulation.
The reporting name will now have a character limit of 60 for drugs and 100 for appliances. This is because we’re aligning to dm+d.
If a drug or appliance exceeds these limits, an abbreviated name will be used that will still align to dm+d. View more information on the new naming convention
BNF Coding
There are some BNF Coding changes that’ll result in differences to the distribution of the data across a range of presentations.
Currently, some drugs and appliances that have the pack size included as part of the presentation name have different BNF Codes allocated for each pack size.
One of the main coding changes is that only one of the existing BNF Codes will be used for reporting purposes. All data will be collected under one of the existing BNF Codes. This is because dm+d does not include the pack size as part of the presentation name.
View more information and some specific examples of BNF Coding changes
Quantities
Currently, some products are listed on the legacy drug database with the pack size included as part of the name. Usually, these are products where the listed pack size is a special container. For these products, the quantity is typically represented as the number of packs.
The naming convention in dm+d does not hold the pack size as part of the drug name for these products. Therefore, the quantity will typically be represented as the total quantity (for example, the total number of mls or gms rather than the number of packs).
There are still products where the pack size is no longer part of the drug name and the quantity will continue to be reported as the number of packs. For example, inhalers will continue to be reported as the number of inhalers and not the number of doses.
View more information and some specific examples of how quantities will be represented in the data
For a small number of presentations, the status of the container pack size has not always aligned across both drug databases. This means it was not possible to reflect changes to some quantities within the historical data within the timescales allowed.
However, from December 2019 these quantities will change to align with the container pack size listed on CDR database and will be consistent with other changes to quantities with similar container pack sizes. We plan on making further information available that covers these products.
ADQs / DDDs
Moving to a single drug database has included a review of the ADQ / DDD values and calculations. In some cases, the ADQ / DDD value has been changed.
CDR database holds the ADQ / DDD value at presentation level, the same as MDR. However, for some products such as inhalers which have more than one pack size (dose size) held under the same BNF Code, this will result in changes to the usage figures due to the way the calculation now works. In line with normal practice, the usage figures will change across the full data periods.