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Brian

@brianmackenna

MPharm MPH working for the NHS and at bennett.ox.ac.uk building tools, analysis and papers from health data opensafely.org openprescribing.net

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02.10.2024
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Latest posts by Brian @brianmackenna

Congrats - I remember when I first did it, weight off my shoulders!

10.03.2026 19:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Category H now live on OpenPrescribing

Example med openprescribing.net/tariff/?code...

#pharmsky

03.03.2026 11:42 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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OpenSAFELY news: you can apply to do non-COVID research, from today! | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science We are delighted to announce that - from today - you can submit applications to the OpenSAFELY service for non-COVID-19 studies.

OpenSAFELY is open from today! Huge thanks to all who supported this vast collaboration: whole population GP data; in a productive platform; innovative privacy protections; unprecedented support from professions, privacy campaigners; &c

Now it's over to users!

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2026/02...

23.02.2026 16:17 πŸ‘ 181 πŸ” 86 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 17
Figure

Figure

New BMJ Research: Time trends in newly recorded diagnoses of 19 long term conditions before, during, and after the covid-19 pandemic: population based cohort study in England
www.bmj.com/content/392/...

27.01.2026 10:21 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
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Time trends in newly recorded diagnoses of 19 long term conditions before, during, and after the covid-19 pandemic: population based cohort study in England using OpenSAFELY Objective To evaluate temporal changes in rates of newly recorded diagnoses for 19 long term conditions in England in relation to the covid-19 pandemic by disease, age group, sex, socioeconomic status...

🚨 OpenSAFELY Milestone Paper!

How did the pandemic affect diagnosis rates for chronic diseases?

We analysed rates for 19 long-term conditions in 30m people in England. The results are out this week in @bmj.com

πŸ“„ Read here: doi.org/10.1136/bmj-...

26.01.2026 20:39 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Time trends in newly recorded diagnoses of 19 long term conditions before, during, and after the covid-19 pandemic: population based cohort study in England using OpenSAFELY Objective To evaluate temporal changes in rates of newly recorded diagnoses for 19 long term conditions in England in relation to the covid-19 pandemic by disease, age group, sex, socioeconomic status...

Huge team effort supported by NHSE. Special hat tip 2 Mark Russell @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social who led this project and to all across the OpenSAFELY project!

A starter pack for your perusal - if those are still a thing?!

bsky.app/starter-pack...

And read the paper!
www.bmj.com/content/392/...

26.01.2026 20:54 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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We must no longer accept waiting years to understand disease burden One of the most important advances to emerge from the covid-19 pandemic is the ability to measure population health at unprecedented scale and speed. Our study of time trends for long term conditions,...

The real benefit is that we now have NHS data infrastircture through OpenSAFELY that means we can re run the analysis whenever is needed

"We must no longer accept waiting years to understand disease burden"

As it says in this excellent linked editorial

www.bmj.com/content/392/...

26.01.2026 20:52 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

There is important information about health inequalities. Briefly for example e.g. subgroup analyses, diagnosis rates for dementia have increased
above preC19 levels for people of white ethnicity and those from less deprived areas, but not for those from other ethnicities or more deprived areas

26.01.2026 20:49 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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rusm086393.f2 A Flourish data visualization by Will Stahl-Timmins

This information is really important for continued planning of NHS services.

The @bmj.com have used our data to make even more beautiful charts than we made!

Check them out public.flourish.studio/visualisatio...

26.01.2026 20:46 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Time trends in newly recorded diagnoses of 19 long term conditions before, during, and after the covid-19 pandemic: population based cohort study in England using OpenSAFELY Objective To evaluate temporal changes in rates of newly recorded diagnoses for 19 long term conditions in England in relation to the covid-19 pandemic by disease, age group, sex, socioeconomic status...

Five years on, the recovery varies :

πŸ“Š Depression diagnoses are nearly 30% lower than expected (dropping since 2022). 🩸 In contrast, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) diagnoses have risen by ~35% above expected levels.

www.bmj.com/content/392/...

26.01.2026 20:45 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Eleven key measures for monitoring general practice clinical activity during COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study using 48 million adults’ primary care records in England through OpenSAFELY There was substantial change in primary care activity following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2019 as indicated by key measures reflective of clinical activity in general practice but se...

Note this is not completely new information. See our earlier OpenSAFELY work in @bjgp.bsky.social

doi.org/10.3399/BJGP...
doi.org/10.3399/BJGP...

And @elife.bsky.social !

elifesciences.org/articles/84673

26.01.2026 20:44 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ“‰ What did we find?

Diagnosis rates fell sharply for all 19 conditions during the early pandemic.

For example lung diseases (asthma, COPD) and skin conditions (psoriasis, atopic dermatitis) were affected early on.

26.01.2026 20:43 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The scale is phenomenal.

Using anonymised data for 30 million people via the NHS England OpenSAFELY service, we tracked conditions ranging from Asthma & COPD to Heart Failure & Depression & and many more

26.01.2026 20:40 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Time trends in newly recorded diagnoses of 19 long term conditions before, during, and after the covid-19 pandemic: population based cohort study in England using OpenSAFELY Objective To evaluate temporal changes in rates of newly recorded diagnoses for 19 long term conditions in England in relation to the covid-19 pandemic by disease, age group, sex, socioeconomic status...

🚨 OpenSAFELY Milestone Paper!

How did the pandemic affect diagnosis rates for chronic diseases?

We analysed rates for 19 long-term conditions in 30m people in England. The results are out this week in @bmj.com

πŸ“„ Read here: doi.org/10.1136/bmj-...

26.01.2026 20:39 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Opioid prescribing to people on orthopaedic waiting lists during the covid-19 pandemic in England: retrospective cohort study using linked electronic health record data in OpenSAFELY-TPP Objective To quantify the changes in opioid prescribing over time to a population with high rates of opioid use to understand the impact of longer elective wait times during the covid-19 pandemic.Desi...

In this study, Rose Higgins and colleagues look at opioid prescribing in patients on orthopaedic waiting lists during the pandemic to understand the impact of longer elective wait times.

https://bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/4/1/e001743

19.12.2025 16:00 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

OpenSAFELY πŸ’ͺ

23.01.2026 10:39 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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We must no longer accept waiting years to understand disease burden One of the most important advances to emerge from the covid-19 pandemic is the ability to measure population health at unprecedented scale and speed. Our study of time trends for long term conditions,...

Disease surveillance capacity is very useful, particularly when integrated with decision making by design. We should build even more. www.bmj.com/content/392/...

22.01.2026 18:24 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

lol

On a train - lost reliable internet!

Thread another time. Read the paper

www.bmj.com/content/392/...

And the linked editorial

www.bmj.com/content/392/...

22.01.2026 18:28 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Time trends in newly recorded diagnoses of 19 long term conditions before, during, and after the covid-19 pandemic: population based cohort study in England using OpenSAFELY Objective To evaluate temporal changes in rates of newly recorded diagnoses for 19 long term conditions in England in relation to the covid-19 pandemic by disease, age group, sex, socioeconomic status...

⏰New OpenSAFELY paper alert ⏰

Time trends in newly recorded diagnoses of 19 long term conditions before, during, and after the covid-19 pandemic: population based cohort study in England using OpenSAFELY

www.bmj.com/content/392/...

Out today in @bmj.com led by an expert team at Kings!

#medsky 🧡

22.01.2026 18:20 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

So good I listened twice ;)

17.01.2026 17:02 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

My weekend listening sorted!

16.01.2026 10:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Trends and variation in the use of andexanet alfa for the reversal of direct oral anticoagulants in NHS trusts in England - PubMed The use of andexanet alfa varies markedly between NHS regions and between NHS trusts in England. This study is the first analysis of adoption of a new treatment using the OpenPrescribing Hospitals platform, which is expected to provide a generalizable framework for similar analyses in the future.

New paper from our team out over Christmas in BJCP

Trends and variation in the use of andexanet alfa for the reversal of direct oral anticoagulants in NHS trusts in England
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41406988/

Sometimes research becomes more relevant after you’ve written it 🧡

#medsky #haematology

08.01.2026 11:49 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Home | OpenPrescribing Hospitals

Audit.
Review.
Improve.

hospitals.openprescribing.net

08.01.2026 11:56 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Home | OpenPrescribing Hospitals

Remember this is not just a paper that lives on a dusty shelf

Now over to you πŸ‘‡

Go and check what andexanet alfa use looks like in your hospital on OpenPrescribing.

hospitals.openprescribing.net

It hasn’t been withdrawn in the UK, and there may still be appropriate use cases.

08.01.2026 11:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ™ Massive thanks to the co-authors and collaborators who made this possible.

08.01.2026 11:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

This kind of transparency and rapid, reproducible analysis is essential if we’re serious about evidence-based and equitable care.

All operating in near real time - available on hospital wards throughout England for live ward round audits!

hospitals.openprescribing.net

08.01.2026 11:54 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

This is the first published study using OpenPrescribing Hospitals to analyse adoption of a new hospital medicine.

A LIVE living machine for studying variation, value, and policy impact across the NHS - that is accessible 24/7

hospitals.openprescribing.net

08.01.2026 11:53 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

But this paper isn’t really about andexanet alfa.

It’s much bigger than that!

08.01.2026 11:52 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image Post image

What we saw was striking:
β€’ Large variation between trusts
β€’ Clear regional differences
β€’ Very different speeds of adoption

08.01.2026 11:52 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Trends and variation in the use of andexanet alfa for the reversal of direct oral anticoagulants in NHS trusts in England - PubMed The use of andexanet alfa varies markedly between NHS regions and between NHS trusts in England. This study is the first analysis of adoption of a new treatment using the OpenPrescribing Hospitals platform, which is expected to provide a generalizable framework for similar analyses in the future.

Back to what we did!

We used OpenPrescribing Hospitals data to examine how andexanet alfa has been taken up across NHS trusts in England since its NICE recommendation in 2021.

Please do see full methods if interested!

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41406988/

08.01.2026 11:51 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0