Finalised Secondary Care Medicines Dataset (SCMD) for 2024/25 Financial Year — now available

What’s new in this release

The SCMD provides a provisional view of stock activity across NHS Trust sites. Each July, an annual finalised release is published for the preceding financial year — this year, 2024/25 — incorporating all updates and corrections made throughout the year. This results in a more accurate and comprehensive dataset.

Rx-Info - developers of the Define data platform which is available to NHS Trust staff - has also identified and resolved anomalies in previously finalised data. In addition, it has addressed missing data that affected some Trusts, including Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital (2022/23), and University College London Hospitals (UCLH). These corrections are reflected in the republication of SCMD datasets for all years, which are available alongside the 2024/25 finalised release.

You can find more information on the Finalised Secondary Care Medicines Data (SCMD) with indicative price dataset.

What this means for you

If you have previously downloaded SCMD files or conducted analysis using earlier versions, we advise you to re-run your analysis using the updated data to ensure accuracy and consistency.

About SCMD and its data source

SCMD is provided from hospital pharmacy stock control systems at NHS Trusts submitted into the Rx-Info Define system. The dataset is published monthly, with a finalised version released annually to provide a complete view of each financial year.

For more information on the SCMD dataset, head over to the Secondary Care Medicines Data Release Guidance v0.5.docx

SCMD and Rx-Info data – understanding the difference

SCMD is a public dataset, published monthly on the NHSBSA Open Data Portal (ODP) with a delay of around six weeks. It is also available in ePACT2. The dataset includes aggregated data with indicative pricing and does not contain brand-level or VAT-inclusive price information.

Rx-Info’s Define platform, available to NHS Trust staff, provides more detailed data and is updated daily. This includes brand-level information and actual prices, where available.

For further information on the differences between the RX-Define system and the published information held on ODP, read Rx-Info's article on What is the difference between SCMD data and Rx-Info data?