This is a beta version of OpenPrescribing Hospitals for testing and feedback purposes. Data and functionality may be incomplete. Please contact us if you find any issues or have feedback. Sign up for email alerts to stay updated.
This measure supports cost saving work in hospitals.
This measure supports work to reduce the impact of medicines issued in hospitals on the overall environmental impact of the NHS.
The percentage of paracetamol intravenous formulation of all oral and intravenous paracetamol issued.
NICE guidance for perioperative care in adults recommends offering oral paracetamol before and after surgery irrespective of pain severity, and advises that intravenous paracetamol should not be used unless the person cannot take oral medication. This reflects the absence of clear clinical benefit of intravenous paracetamol over oral formulations in patients who can take medicines orally. Intravenous paracetamol is significantly more expensive than oral formulations and has a higher carbon footprint. In addition, NHS Scotland guidance, based on current evidence, supports switching suitable patients from intravenous to oral paracetamol as a safe and effective intervention. Reducing unnecessary use of intravenous paracetamol can lead to substantial cost savings and reductions in carbon emissions.
We divide the number of Defined Daily Doses (DDDs) of intravenous paracetamol products by the total number of DDDs of all oral and intravenous paracetamol products and then multiply by 100 to obtain a percentage each month. Suppositories are not included in this measure.
Trusts are only included in this measure if they have issued any products included in the denominator for this measure.
For this measure, 226/227 Trusts are included. A full list of Trusts included is available on the Submission History page.