Every dataset. What it is. What it isn't.
This page exists because the worst version of a data product is one that quietly buries its limits. DoseTrend runs on three open datasets and one reference feed. Here is what each one gives us, in plain English.
Every item dispensed against a GP prescription in England, by month, by practice, by BNF code. Roughly 80 million rows a month, published on the 20th of the following month. The backbone of DoseTrend's primary-care view.
What it gives us: items, quantity, NIC and actual cost, back to 2019, at practice granularity. We roll it up to PCN, ICB and national.
What it doesn't: hospital dispensing, manufacturer, brand share for generics, patient counts, indication.
Hospital dispensing across all English NHS trusts, by month, by VMP or VMPP. Published by NHSBSA on a 4–6 week lag. Uses dm+d, not BNF, so it needs joining to EPD before it means anything to a commercial team.
What it gives us: hospital volume and cost, national and trust-level, for every molecule we cover.
What it doesn't: ward-level, patient-level, procured-but-not-dispensed stock. Trust names change; we track the changes so your charts don't lie.
NHS Digital's Organisation Data Service tells us which practice belongs to which ICB this month (and next month, when they redraw the boundaries). The dictionary of medicines and devices maps every product code to a real medicine.
Why it matters: ICBs merge, split and rename constantly. Without ODS versioning, a "year-on-year" chart is meaningless. We version it, so ours isn't.
We map every EPD BNF code to the dm+d VMP used by SCMD, so a single molecule shows up as one line whether it was prescribed in a GP surgery or dispensed by a hospital pharmacy. Where the mapping is ambiguous — 3% of items, roughly — we flag it in the methodology footnote of the chart, not in a hidden appendix.
The limits, in one paragraph.
No manufacturer-level brand share for generics. No patient counts, ever — the NHS doesn't publish them. No private prescribing, no Scotland, no Wales, no Northern Ireland in the same view (we can add them; ask). No real-time; hospital data lags 4–6 weeks and primary care lags roughly 3 weeks. If any of these are dealbreakers, tell us on the application call and we'll tell you to save your money.
Monthly, on the first working day.
EPD lands on the 20th, SCMD lands mid-month. By the first working day of the following month, every DoseTrend dashboard is refreshed and every briefing PDF is in your inbox. If we miss it, we say so, on the front of the site, before you notice.