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Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) in Secondary Care

This collection is of patient-level (identifiable) data for medicines prescribed and administered to patients by secondary care providers (acute, mental health, specialist, and community hospitals in England), when this is recorded on their electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) systems.

Page contents

ePMA data comprises records of prescribed medicines, alongside details of how and when those medicines were administered to patients. To explain the relationship between prescribing and administration; if an item is prescribed to be administered to a patient in the morning and evening, the ePMA data will show 1 prescription or medication order, and 2 administrations for that patient for a single day. If the patient stayed in the hospital for 5 days the data would show 1 prescription and 10 administrations.

It is common for secondary care providers to have more than 1 ePMA system, perhaps using a ‘main’ system for most wards and specialties, and different systems for example for cancer treatments, maternity, and intensive care. Our intention is to collect from the ‘main’ ePMA system, defined as the one used by the majority of wards and specialties. 

Access Method

Data set available in packages

  • No

Period of data coverage

Ongoing from 1 June 2018.

Geographical scope of data

England

Linkable to other data sets

  • Yes

Data collection process

Submitted by: Secondary care providers (acute, mental health, specialist, and community hospitals in England), when data is recorded on their electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) systems.

Collected by: NHS England

Frequency: Daily

Clinical coding systems

Does the data set include any standardised systems of coding?

  • SNOMED-CT (a structured clinical vocabulary for use in electronic health records.)
  • dm+d (dictionary of descriptions and codes which represent medicines and devices in use across the NHS.)
  • UCUM (Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM) is a code system intended to include all units of measurement.)
Full list of coding systems considered
  • SNOMED-CT (a structured clinical vocabulary for use in electronic health records.)
  • ICD  (International Classification of Diseases classifies diseases and other health conditions.)
  • OPCS-4  (Office of Population Census and Surveys classification of interventions and surgical procedures)
  • dm+d  (Dictionary of descriptions and codes which represent medicines and devices in use across the NHS.)
  • NICIP (National Interim Clinical Imaging Procedure provides consistent recording of imaging procedures.)
  • UCUM  (Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM) is a code system intended to include all units of measurement.)
  • TFCs (Treatment Function Codes are used to record treatment activities undertaken)
  • Read Code v2  (A coded thesaurus of clinical terms.)
  • Read Code Clinical Terms v3 (A coded thesaurus of clinical terms.)
  • UICC (Union for International Cancer Control classification of cancer by anatomic disease extent.)
  • IMD  (Indices of Multiple Deprivation measures relative poverty.)
     

Derived fields

Standardised formulation may be applied across multiple data sets to generate commonly derived fields.  Any standard derivations applicable to this data set are listed below. Please note that this does not include bespoke derivations created specifically for the individual data set

  • ICS_OF_RESIDENCE
  • LA_OF_RESIDENCE
  • LSOA_OF_RESIDENCE
  • ICS_OF_REGISTRATION
  • LA_OF_REGISTRATION
  • LSOA_OF_REGISTRATION
Full list of standard derivations considered

GP_PRACTICE_CODE_TRACED (The GP Practice that the patient is registered at, as found when traced against the Person Demographic Service (PDS).)

CCG_OF_RESIDENCE (Clinical Commissioning Group covering the area in which the patient’s postcode falls where data relates to pre 1st July 2022. Otherwise ICB Sub Location.)

ICS_OF_RESIDENCE (The Integrated Care System covering the area in which the patient’s postcode falls. This will be null for any data relating to earlier than 1st July 2022.)

LA_OF_RESIDENCE (The Local Authority covering the area in which the patient’s postcode falls.)

LSOA_OF_RESIDENCE (The Lower Super Output Area (lowest level without being disclosive) covering the area in which the patient’s postcode falls.)

CCG_OF_REGISTRATION (Clinical Commissioning Group which has a commissioning relationship with the GP Practice which the patient is registered at where data relates to pre 1st July 2022. Otherwise ICB Sub Location.)

ICS_OF_REGISTRATION (The Integrated Care System covering the area in which the patient’s GP Practice falls. This will be null until for any data relating to earlier than 1st July 2022.)

LA_OF_REGISTRATION (The Local Authority covering the area in which the patient’s GP Practice falls.)

LSOA_OF_REGISTRATION (The Lower Super Output Area (lowest level without being disclosive) covering the area in which the patient’s GP Practice falls.)

Third party licensing

Does the data set require copyrighted clinical assessment tools or outcome measures that require a licence?

  • None

Advice and support

Governance of this data set is provided by:

Owning organisation: Department of Health and Social Care

Data Controller: NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care

Data Processor: NHS England

NHS England provides a variety of functions for the data sets we make available.  Therefore, our knowledge and understanding of the data will vary, impacting the level of advice and support we can provide.

In relation to this data set, we undertake end to end management and can therefore provide a full advice, guidance and support service.

Supporting documentation and guidance

Last edited: 14 April 2026 4:50 pm