Northern Ireland General Practitioner Prescribing and Dispensing Records

GP Prescribing Data details every prescription written by Northern Ireland General Practitioners and nurses, subsequently dispensed and paid for by the national health service. The dataset tracks gross drug costs, reimbursement adjustments, and uses the British National Formulary classification system for medications. Managed by OpenDataNI under the UK's Open Government Licence, the data is updated monthly with records from August 2021 onward reflecting a revised database structure.

Use Cases

• Analyze prescription volume and cost trends using the 'Gross Cost' and 'Quantity' columns.
• Study medication classification changes over time using the 'BNF Code', 'BNF Chapter', and 'BNF Section' columns.
• Model reimbursement adjustments and late concessionary price impacts on total expenditure.
• Compare prescribing patterns across different therapeutic areas defined by BNF chapters (e.g., Chapter 11 for Eye, Chapter 13 for Skin).
• Investigate the impact of database changes from August 2021 on recorded quantities for inhalers, sprays, and solutions.

Strengths

• Includes late concessionary price updates from May 2024, improving cost accuracy.
• BNF chapter classifications were aligned with England's system, ensuring consistency for over 99.5% of items.
• The 'BNF Code' column is more fully populated from September 2018 onwards.

Limitations

• Caution is required when comparing BNF chapters 11, 12, 13, and 21 before October 2021 due to reclassification of approximately 0.5% of items.
• Quantities for some items like inhalers changed from 'device' to 'doses dispensed' after August 2021, complicating longitudinal analysis.
• The exact number of rows (prescription records) and temporal start date are not specified in the provided metadata.

Provenance

Source

OpenDataNI, sourced from the Business Services Organisation (BSO) of the Northern Ireland health service.

Collection Method

Aggregated from prescriptions written by GPs/nurses, dispensed by community pharmacists, and submitted to BSO for payment.

Time Range

Records from at least September 2018 onward, with significant structural changes from August 2021.

Freshness

Updated monthly, with a last update date of April 2026.

Geography

Northern Ireland.