National Prescribing Indicators 2025-2028

National prescribing indicators show how the different health boards in Wales prescribe certain medicines, and highlight any differences in prescribing patterns.

The World Health Organization defines rational prescribing as making sure that patients receive the right medicines for them, at the right doses and for the right length of time, and at the lowest cost to patients and their community.

National prescribing indicators are developed to promote rational prescribing of medicines in Wales. The choice of indicators is evidence-based and the indicators are designed to be clear and easily understood by prescribers and healthcare professionals.

The indicators allow health boards, primary care clusters, GP practices and prescribers to compare their current prescribing practice against an agreed standard of quality.

For 2025-2028, the National Prescribing Indicators: Supporting Safe and Optimised Prescribing focus on the following priority areas:

• Analgesics (including opioids, tramadol, and gabapentin and pregabalin)
• Antimicrobial stewardship (including total antibacterial prescribing and the ‘4C antimicrobials’: co-amoxiclav, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and clindamycin, and course duration for respiratory tract infection antibiotics)
• Respiratory (including decarbonisation of inhalers and short acting beta agonist inhalers)
• SGLT-2 inhibitors in patients with and without diabetes.

These four priority areas were supported by additional indicators:

• Safety
  • Prescribing safety indicators
  • Hypnotics and anxiolytics
  • Yellow Cards
• Efficiency
• • Best value biological medicines
  • Low value for prescribing

(Published December 2024)

(Published December 2024)