You can't always get what you want - why medicines don't always show up on OpenPrescribing
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OpenPrescribing aims to provide comprehensive and up-to-date information on medicines prescribed across NHS primary care in England. Sometimes, though, people can’t find a specific medicine there. In our experience there are several common reasons why that might happen.
Search for generic and brand names of the medicine you’re looking for
Some users search for a medicine under its brand name, while OpenPrescribing might only list it under its generic name, or vice versa, consistent with how medicines are prescribed by general practice in England. It’s worth checking for both the generic and brand names if you can’t find a medication at first glance.
It might be a “hospital only” medicine
OpenPrescribing displays prescriptions issued by GPs in England. We do not currently host data about hospital prescriptions (see this note for more background).
It might not have been prescribed within the NHS before
Our database includes medicines that are prescribed and funded by the NHS in England. Some medications, especially those that are new, very specialised, or considered experimental, might be prescribed by private providers but not by NHS GPs. We recommend looking in the NHS dictionary of medicines and devices to see if it has ever been prescribed anywhere on the NHS. If the medicine is not in the NHS dictionary of medicine and devices (dm+d) it will not be available on GP computer systems to prescribe.
If you are a pharmaceutical company who wants to add your product to dm+d, you should contact someone else!
It might be on its way (soon)
OpenPrescribing runs on data published by the NHS Business Services Authority. Prescription data is typically published six weeks after the end of the month in which it was dispensed. So, if you are interested in a medicine that might have been prescribed for the first time recently, it will take a month or two to show up.
What’s more, even if it’s available to be prescribed, it might not have actually been prescribed yet! GPs can write a prescription for a medication once it is available, but they usually rely on their EHR interface, powered by NHS dm+d, to tell them if a medication is available for prescription. dm+d is issued every week, but EHR providers are only required to update it within eight weeks of the most recent dm+d1. The upshot is that sometimes, GPs might not know the medicine is available to prescribe yet, and if it hasn’t been prescribed yet, it won’t show up.
Tell us if you think something’s wrong
If you believe there is a medicine that should be included on OpenPrescribing but isn’t, and you have ruled out all the reasons above, please let us know! We appreciate feedback and we’re always working to improve the accuracy and completeness of our data. Send us an email: bennett@phc.ox.ac.uk