What does “openprescribing price concessions drug list” mean for Sunderland Central PCN?
OpenPrescribing is a public dataset that shows prescribing activity and related prescribing spend. “Price concessions” typically refers to medicines where the net cost to the NHS can differ from the basic published price because of scheme-related discounts/concessions applied at procurement or reimbursement level. The “drug list” is the set of specific medicines included in that price-concessions dataset view for a given area/period (here, Sunderland Central PCN, and the year 2022). [1][2]
Which epilepsy drug are you asking about: lamotrigine?
You’re specifically flagging lamotrigine, an antiseizure medicine used in epilepsy. In an OpenPrescribing “price concessions” view, lamotrigine will only appear if it’s included in the relevant concession/scheme breakdown for the Sunderland Central PCN dataset for 2022. The relevant figures you’d usually look for are the concession-related net spend (or “extra spend” if that’s how the page labels the difference between expected and actual cost) for lamotrigine, for the year 2022. [1]
Sunderland Central PCN: how to find the 2022 “extra spend” for lamotrigine
To pull the exact Sunderland Central PCN lamotrigine figure for 2022, the workflow is:
1. Open the OpenPrescribing page for Sunderland Central PCN.
2. Switch to the tab/view for “Price concessions”.
3. Set the time period to 2022.
4. Search within the medicine/drug list for “lamotrigine”.
5. Read the row/metric labeled as “extra spend” (or the equivalent “difference”/net-cost metric used on that page for concession items). [1]
Why lamotrigine may show “extra spend” (or not)
“Extra spend” in price-concession reporting usually reflects a gap between what would be expected under a baseline price and what was actually paid after (or because of) concession rules. Depending on the scheme definitions in the dataset, a medicine may show as:
- present with a positive “extra spend” value (net cost higher than baseline/expected), or
- present with reduced cost, or
- not shown at all if it does not meet the scheme’s inclusion criteria for that concession category in that year. [1][2]
Common reasons people miss the lamotrigine row in OpenPrescribing
In practice, search terms and naming conventions can matter:
- The drug might appear as “Lamotrigine” under its brand/generic spelling used by the dataset, not necessarily exactly as you typed it.
- Some pages split by formulation (for example, different strengths or branded vs generic naming) depending on how OpenPrescribing aggregates the concession data for that view. [1]
If you want the exact number, what I need from you
Your question asks for “extra spend 2022 epilepsy lamotrigine” for Sunderland Central PCN, but the specific numeric value isn’t included in the text you provided. If you paste either:
- the OpenPrescribing link you’re using for Sunderland Central PCN price concessions (2022), or
- a screenshot / the lamotrigine row from the drug list,
I can tell you the exact “extra spend” value and how it compares to other epilepsy drugs on that page.
Sources
[1] OpenPrescribing (price concessions and prescribing/spend views): https://openprescribing.net/
[2] OpenPrescribing documentation/about data (context for prescribing/spend datasets): https://openprescribing.net/about/