Abstract
Data Resource Basics: The Prescribing Information System (PIS) covers the prescribed,dispensed and reimbursed prescriptions in community pharmacies from the 5.3 million residents in Scotland. Summary information is available from 1993 and at an individual level from 2009 to the present. Data Collected: The raw data are generated by three data sources: ePrescribed -generated by GPs messages, eDispensed –generated by messages from community pharmacies and Reimbursed messages from scanned paper prescriptions dispensed in the community pharmacies. The four main categories of data collected are: (1) Patient-specific, (2) Prescriber, (3) Dispenser and (4) Drug-specific. PIS data can be linked via a unique identifier to other national databases, including hospital records, maternal and neonatal, the Scottish Cancer Registry and mortality records. The catalogue of databases is available in www.ndc.scot.nhs.uk . Subject to approval of the data controllers other external datasets can also be linked. Data Resource Use: PIS has been used to describe the utilisation of several groups of drugs;factors influencing prescribing and evaluation of interventions to improve it; generation of polypharmacy guidelines; risk of side effects; monitoring of antibiotic use and generation of policy recommendations; associations between community prescription of antimicrobials and deprivation or infection; evaluation of prescription fee abolition; clinical effectiveness, safety and health technology assessment of drugs approved in the last decade. Reasons to be cautious: PIS does not capture information about diagnosis or indication for treatment, over the counter medicines, medicines administered during inpatient hospital stays, upon discharge for short term use, outpatient supplies or some specialist drugs for chronic use. Drug data is currently coded according to the British National Formulary. For longitudinal studies, patient level data is available from 2009 and the frequency of data collection from the three sources is different. Collaboration and data access: PIS data are available upon request to the electronic Data Research and Innovation Service (NSS.eDRIS@nhs.net) and project approval by the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel. Funding and competing interests: This dataset is funded from the public monies available to the NHS. Current work to develop an improved PIS research ready analysis platform and this study is supported by the Farr Institute @ Scotland and its 10-funder consortium. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Highlights
The Prescribing Information System (PIS) provides an infrastructure for pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance research, attracting growing attention due to its unique combination of characteristics
PIS provides summary information on reimbursed medicines from 1993, and it gives access to individual prescribing and dispensing data since 2009 with the incorporation in the system of a unique number, specific to National Health Service (NHS) Scotland, called the Community Health Index (CHI) number
This dataset addresses the demand for longitudinal data at a population level, captured through routine clinical systems required to understand the chronology of drug use and health outcomes, complementing the evidence generated through clinical trials and drug surveillance schemes.[4,5,6]
Summary
The Prescribing Information System (PIS) provides an infrastructure for pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance research, attracting growing attention due to its unique combination of characteristics. Compared with several databases worldwide offering national population coverage and record linkage,[1,2,3] PIS covers all National Health Service (NHS) prescriptions prescribed, dispensed and reimbursed within the community setting, covering in Scotland a total population of 5.3 million residents.
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