Brian
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brianmackenna.bsky.social
Brian
@brianmackenna.bsky.social
390 followers 230 following 230 posts
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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brianmackenna.bsky.social
Brian @brianmackenna.bsky.social · Nov 21
Howya folks!

Allow me to introduce myself.......

I’m a pharmacist by trade, with a specialist interest in pharmacomedy, and spend most of my time at @bennettoxford.bsky.social beavering away on OpenPrescribing and OpenSAFELY

If you haven’t heard of them - allow me to shout about them for a minute
Reposted by Brian
brianmackenna.bsky.social
I had the pleasure of sitting down with @auralapothecary.pharmsky.app recently.

My first podcast!

Out now, wherever you get your pods from

www.theauralapothecary.com/episodes/
Episodes
81 podcast episodes from The Aural Apothecary. Listen to the latest episode: 8.3 Brian MacKenna - In God we Trust - All Others Must Bring Data
www.theauralapothecary.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:14 AM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
I had the pleasure of sitting down with @auralapothecary.pharmsky.app recently.

My first podcast!

Out now, wherever you get your pods from

www.theauralapothecary.com/episodes/
Episodes
81 podcast episodes from The Aural Apothecary. Listen to the latest episode: 8.3 Brian MacKenna - In God we Trust - All Others Must Bring Data
www.theauralapothecary.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Reposted by Brian
auralapothecary.pharmsky.app
🚨New Episode! Brian Mackenna - In God We Trust, All Others Must Bring Data.

We are joined by @brianmackenna.bsky.social of @bennettoxford.bsky.social to discuss OpenPrescribing and how we can get better at using data.

It’s about more than the numbers!

www.theauralapothecary.com/83-brian-mck...
8.3 Brian McKenna - In God we Trust - All Others Must Bring Data
Data - it’s mentioned in the new NHS 10 year Health Plan 178 times! As healthcare continues to evolve, the ability to turn data into insight — and insight into bett…
www.theauralapothecary.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Reposted by Brian
shinyblackshoe.bsky.social
Didn't get a chance to mention it at yesterday's #BOPA2025 SC #Nivolumab session...

The amazing guys at #OpenPrescribing have built a SC Nivo tracker. Want to know if you are ahead of the cure - check this out:

hospitals.openprescribing.net/measures/niv...
Measures · Uptake of nivolumab subcutaneous | OpenPrescribing Hospitals
What is this measure?
hospitals.openprescribing.net
October 4, 2025 at 6:08 AM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
Price concessions continue to challenge NHS orgs

£16million extra cost last month - see our monitoring tool

openprescribing.net/national/eng...

Sign up to bespoke monitoring for your organisation

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2019/02...

Check out C4 news for good explainer of the issues*
jessrmorley.bsky.social Jess Morley @jessrmorley.bsky.social · Oct 13
NEWS!!! Normally when I tweet about @BennettOxford work I’m either talking about the @bengoldacre Review or @OpenSAFELY BUT @openprescribing was our first born & last night @Channel4News ran a 6min segment using our Price Concessions data to highlight rising drug prices:
October 1, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Reposted by Brian
bennettoxford.bsky.social
We are hiring researchers!

We’re looking for Epidemiologists / Health Data Scientists to join our growing research team at the Bennett Institute.

Please check out the job advert and tell your friends!

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/09...
We're hiring researchers to work on OpenSAFELY | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science
Come and work with us! We’re looking for Epidemiologists / Health Data Scientists to join our growing research team.
www.bennett.ox.ac.uk
September 29, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Brian
brianmackenna.bsky.social
Can the NHS implement change quickly?

Some say no… but new cancer “super jabs” 🚀 show it can.

We’ve just launched 2 new measures on OpenPrescribing Hospitals:

👉 Nivolumab hospitals.openprescribing.net/measures/niv...

👉 Atezolizumab hospitals.openprescribing.net/measures/ate...
September 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Brian
bengoldacre.bsky.social
COME TO OUR CONFERENCE!

Lots of people work on medicines data: researchers; but also "medicines optimisation" teams, using data to directly improve NHS care; and teams who build data tools. These clans rarely meet... Until now! Join us, Dec 10th, in Oxford.

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/events/2025-...
2025 Bennett Institute Medicines Symposium | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science
The two-day 2025 Bennett Institute Medicines Symposium will take place at Jesus College in Oxford on 10–11 December 2025.
www.bennett.ox.ac.uk
September 25, 2025 at 3:55 PM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
Can the NHS implement change quickly?

Some say no… but new cancer “super jabs” 🚀 show it can.

We’ve just launched 2 new measures on OpenPrescribing Hospitals:

👉 Nivolumab hospitals.openprescribing.net/measures/niv...

👉 Atezolizumab hospitals.openprescribing.net/measures/ate...
September 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Brian
brianmackenna.bsky.social
The mighty @bmjmedicine.bsky.social have joined Bluesky!

Follow them!

It reminded me of our first paper there - PINCER medication safety indicators using OpenSAFELY

doi.org/10.1136/bmjm...

Short thread to remind everyone else!
Changes in medication safety indicators in England throughout the covid-19 pandemic using OpenSAFELY: population based, retrospective cohort study of 57 million patients using federated analytics
Objective To implement complex, PINCER (pharmacist led information technology intervention) prescribing indicators, on a national scale with general practice data to describe the impact of the covid-1...
doi.org
September 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
The mighty @bmjmedicine.bsky.social have joined Bluesky!

Follow them!

It reminded me of our first paper there - PINCER medication safety indicators using OpenSAFELY

doi.org/10.1136/bmjm...

Short thread to remind everyone else!
Changes in medication safety indicators in England throughout the covid-19 pandemic using OpenSAFELY: population based, retrospective cohort study of 57 million patients using federated analytics
Objective To implement complex, PINCER (pharmacist led information technology intervention) prescribing indicators, on a national scale with general practice data to describe the impact of the covid-1...
doi.org
September 22, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Brian
wjchulme.bsky.social
As part of this hiring round we're looking for a post-doc to work with us on OVERTURE, a new NIHR-funded programme on vaccine effectiveness for flu, Covid-19, and RSV. You'll use OpenSAFELY to establish and apply optimal methods for estimating VE in population-scale data
wjchulme.bsky.social Will Hulme @wjchulme.bsky.social · Sep 22
We are hiring researchers! We do lots of fun and important work with NHS data - epidemiology, service monitoring, developing analytic tools and methods, more.

Deadline 3 October.

Get in touch if you'd like to know more.

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/09...
We're hiring researchers to work on OpenSAFELY | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science
Come and work with us! We’re looking for Epidemiologists / Health Data Scientists to join our growing research team.
www.bennett.ox.ac.uk
September 22, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Brian
bennettoxford.bsky.social
📢Competition time!

We are launching the Bennett Prize in OpenPrescribing to celebrate the best user-led projects!

Have you improved safety, saved money or improved prescribing in your organisation using OpenPrescribing?
Enter now!

Find out more here 👇
www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/08...
Bennett Prize in OpenPrescribing | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science
We’re launching the Bennett Prize in OpenPrescribing to celebrate the best user-led projects using OpenPrescribing. Enter by sharing your work online and sending us the link — all kinds of entries wel...
www.bennett.ox.ac.uk
September 17, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Brian
letsdodigital.bsky.social
Interested in data?

Interested in Prizes?

You want to enter the Bennett Prize in OpenPrescribing?

Join Prof Ben Goldacre and colleagues on Monday the 29th of September 2-3 PM to highlight OpenPrescribing and how to enter the Prize draw.

events.teams.microsoft.com/event/7c12f8...
Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
events.teams.microsoft.com
September 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Brian
brianmackenna.bsky.social
We are HIRING!

Researchers & analysts

Come and join us shipping code, papers and tools like OpenSAFELY and OpenPrescribing

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/09...
We're hiring researchers to work on OpenSAFELY | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science
Come and work with us! We’re looking for Epidemiologists / Health Data Scientists to join our growing research team.
www.bennett.ox.ac.uk
September 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
We are HIRING!

Researchers & analysts

Come and join us shipping code, papers and tools like OpenSAFELY and OpenPrescribing

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/09...
We're hiring researchers to work on OpenSAFELY | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science
Come and work with us! We’re looking for Epidemiologists / Health Data Scientists to join our growing research team.
www.bennett.ox.ac.uk
September 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
NHS England says Lidocaine plasters are not a good use of taxpayers money in most cases.

New data and measures for every hospital in England and their use of lidocaine plasters

hospitals.openprescribing.net/measures/lvp...
Measures · Low value prescribing - lidocaine plasters | OpenPrescribing Hospitals
hospitals.openprescribing.net
September 9, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Brian
brianmackenna.bsky.social
OpenPrescribing for Hospitals now has multi-product search!

Suggested by our users once we launched............

Built by us in the open!

Check it out

hospitals.openprescribing.net/analyse/

Here's an example of codeine tabs
September 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Brian
brianmackenna.bsky.social
Co-proxamol: Not gone yet

New letter from myself and Rich Croker in @bjgp.bsky.social

Despite the formal withdrawal of its marketing authorisation nearly two decades ago, co-proxamol prescribing persists, with tragic results.

Read it at: doi.org/10.3399/bjgp... (full letter in alt text)
Picture of full letter text. Dear Editor, we read your editorial on co-proxamol with great interest.1 This is not just a legacy prescribing issue; it is a patient safety issue that continues today. Co-proxamol deserves renewed attention, not just as a footnote in pharmacovigilance history, but as a current and addressable safety risk. Despite the formal withdrawal of its marketing authorisation nearly two decades ago, co-proxamol prescribing persists, with tragic results. Since its withdrawal, over 200 people have died due to co-proxamol poisoning2 and new initiations of co-proxamol are occurring.3 In the last year alone, NHS spending on co-proxamol was approximately £2 million,4 roughly half of the cost in the last year before regulatory action.5 Our group delivers OpenPrescribing.net, which provides online dashboards of measures of prescribing quality and safety for every general practice in England. We have a dedicated measure of co-proxamol and we encourage all practices to review their co-proxamol prescribing, which is also called for in this year’s NHS planning guidance6 Co-proxamol’s ongoing use, despite robust regulatory action and sustained reductions in prescribing, presents an opportunity to revisit how such withdrawals are implemented. General practice has made major progress, but prescribing levels suggest further system-level attention is needed to complete the job.
September 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
Co-proxamol: Not gone yet

New letter from myself and Rich Croker in @bjgp.bsky.social

Despite the formal withdrawal of its marketing authorisation nearly two decades ago, co-proxamol prescribing persists, with tragic results.

Read it at: doi.org/10.3399/bjgp... (full letter in alt text)
Picture of full letter text. Dear Editor, we read your editorial on co-proxamol with great interest.1 This is not just a legacy prescribing issue; it is a patient safety issue that continues today. Co-proxamol deserves renewed attention, not just as a footnote in pharmacovigilance history, but as a current and addressable safety risk. Despite the formal withdrawal of its marketing authorisation nearly two decades ago, co-proxamol prescribing persists, with tragic results. Since its withdrawal, over 200 people have died due to co-proxamol poisoning2 and new initiations of co-proxamol are occurring.3 In the last year alone, NHS spending on co-proxamol was approximately £2 million,4 roughly half of the cost in the last year before regulatory action.5 Our group delivers OpenPrescribing.net, which provides online dashboards of measures of prescribing quality and safety for every general practice in England. We have a dedicated measure of co-proxamol and we encourage all practices to review their co-proxamol prescribing, which is also called for in this year’s NHS planning guidance6 Co-proxamol’s ongoing use, despite robust regulatory action and sustained reductions in prescribing, presents an opportunity to revisit how such withdrawals are implemented. General practice has made major progress, but prescribing levels suggest further system-level attention is needed to complete the job.
September 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
OpenPrescribing for Hospitals now has multi-product search!

Suggested by our users once we launched............

Built by us in the open!

Check it out

hospitals.openprescribing.net/analyse/

Here's an example of codeine tabs
September 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Brian
brianmackenna.bsky.social
🚨 New from OpenPrescribing! 🚨

Special Edition Newsletter:

OpenPrescribing Hospitals is here 🎉

We’re opening up hospital medicines data across England like never before.

👉 Read the full newsletter:

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/08...
OpenPrescribing Hospitals - Special Edition Newsletter | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science
Special edition OpenPrescribing newsletter introducing our new tool, OpenPrescribing Hospitals.
www.bennett.ox.ac.uk
August 21, 2025 at 2:11 PM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
🚨 New from OpenPrescribing! 🚨

Special Edition Newsletter:

OpenPrescribing Hospitals is here 🎉

We’re opening up hospital medicines data across England like never before.

👉 Read the full newsletter:

www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/08...
OpenPrescribing Hospitals - Special Edition Newsletter | Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science
Special edition OpenPrescribing newsletter introducing our new tool, OpenPrescribing Hospitals.
www.bennett.ox.ac.uk
August 21, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Brian
brianmackenna.bsky.social
Is your NHS organisation increasing the use of generic dapagliflozin?

We've shipped lovely dashboards for all practices, PCN and regions in England! (hospitals coming soon)

Read more and see ICB charts

openprescribing.net/measure/dapa...

#pharmsky
mimsonline.bsky.social MIMS online @mimsonline.bsky.social · Aug 11
Generic versions of the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin have been launched following the expiry of patent protection for the originator brand Forxiga.

Read more on MIMS
buff.ly/cVq9j2y
August 19, 2025 at 3:19 PM
brianmackenna.bsky.social
Is your NHS organisation increasing the use of generic dapagliflozin?

We've shipped lovely dashboards for all practices, PCN and regions in England! (hospitals coming soon)

Read more and see ICB charts

openprescribing.net/measure/dapa...

#pharmsky
mimsonline.bsky.social MIMS online @mimsonline.bsky.social · Aug 11
Generic versions of the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin have been launched following the expiry of patent protection for the originator brand Forxiga.

Read more on MIMS
buff.ly/cVq9j2y
August 19, 2025 at 3:19 PM