Brian
brianmackenna.bsky.social
Brian
@brianmackenna.bsky.social
MPharm MPH working for the NHS and at bennett.ox.ac.uk building tools, analysis and papers from health data opensafely.org openprescribing.net
Pinned
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
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/...
January 27, 2026 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Brian
🚨 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

📄 Read here: doi.org/10.1136/bmj-...
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...
doi.org
January 26, 2026 at 8:39 PM
🚨 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

📄 Read here: doi.org/10.1136/bmj-...
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...
doi.org
January 26, 2026 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Brian
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
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...
bmjmedicine.bmj.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM
OpenSAFELY 💪
January 23, 2026 at 10:39 AM
Reposted by Brian
Disease surveillance capacity is very useful, particularly when integrated with decision making by design. We should build even more. www.bmj.com/content/392/...
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,...
www.bmj.com
January 22, 2026 at 6:24 PM
⏰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 🧵
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...
www.bmj.com
January 22, 2026 at 6:20 PM
My weekend listening sorted!
Live from Oxford with Professor Ben Goldacre — Bad Pharma, Good Data, Better Care

We take the stage at the @bennettoxford.bsky.social with its Director, @bengoldacre.bsky.social, for a conversation on evidence, transparency, and why better data is the starting point—not the end point—of better care
Live from Oxford with Professor Ben Goldacre - Bad Pharma, Good …
The Apothecaries are back on the road! In this special live episode, The Aural Apothecary takes the stage at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, hosted …
www.theauralapothecary.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by Brian
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
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.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
January 8, 2026 at 11:49 AM
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
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.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
January 8, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Brian
New paper from our great @bennettoxford.bsky.social team using OpenSAFELY.

Interesting paper but more broadly, a huge step forward for NHS data infrastructure.

Waiting list data linked to GP data at a patient level for the first time.

A key analytic tool to help with reducing NHS waiting lists.
December 12, 2025 at 4:05 PM
New paper from our great @bennettoxford.bsky.social team using OpenSAFELY.

Interesting paper but more broadly, a huge step forward for NHS data infrastructure.

Waiting list data linked to GP data at a patient level for the first time.

A key analytic tool to help with reducing NHS waiting lists.
December 12, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Brian
OpenPrescribing Hospitals: An open access analytics platform for hospital medicines use in England https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.13.25340060v1
November 17, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by Brian
Congratulations to all of the winners of the Bennett Prize in OpenPrescribing. You can read more on our LinkedIn and we will be sharing more on our blog over the coming days.
www.linkedin.com/posts/bennet...
December 10, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Brian
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
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
🚨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
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
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*
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
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
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
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
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
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
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