The National Prescribing Indicators (NPIs) for 2025-2028 include indicators for primary and secondary care, with a 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
On a quarterly basis, a report is compiled analysing the performance of each health board against the current set of NPIs.