Version: 1.0.1 | Published: 28 Jul 2026 | Updated: 0 days ago
Summary
Documentation
Description:
MACCS resource is a national individual-level medicines dataset for adults (18 years of age and older), derived from routinely collected prescribing and medicine-related data held by Public Health Scotland (PHS). It integrates data from the Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (HEPMA), Prescribing Information System (PIS), and Homecare Medicines (HCM) datasets, which are linked at the individual level to eleven other national clinical records; including Scottish Morbidity Records (SMR00/01/02/04/06), laboratory data and mortality records; using the unique NHS Scotland person identifier. Data are curated, harmonised and pre-linked within the National Safe Haven and accessed by approved researchers through secure Trusted Research Environments.
In Pipeline:
Available
Coverage
Spatial:
- United Kingdom
- Scotland
Typical Age Range Min:
18
Typical Age Range Max:
150
Material Type:
None/not available
Follow Up:
Other
Pathway:
Coverage of secondary care for all individuals aged 18+ prescribed any
medication in primary care, secondary care or homecare.
Provenance
Origin
Purpose:
- Administrative
- Care
Dataset Type:
- Health and disease
- Measurements/Tests
- Treatments/Interventions
Dataset Sub-Type:
Not applicable
Source:
EPR
Collection Source:
- Prescribing - Community pharmacy
- Prescribing - Hospital
Image Contrast:
No
Temporal
Publishing Frequency:
Irregular
Distribution Release Date:
30 September 2025
Start Date:
01 April 2004
End Date:
09 March 2026
Time Lag:
Variable
Accessibility
Access
Access Service Category:
TRE/SDE
Access Service:
Scottish National Safe Haven / Trusted Research Environment:
https://publichealthscotland.scot/services/data-research-and-innovation-services/electronic-data-research-and-innovation-service-edris/national-safe-haven-nsh/
Access Request Cost:
Delivery Lead Time:
Variable
Data Controller:
Public Health Scotland
Data Processor:
Public Services Delivery Scotland
Jurisdiction:
Great Britain
Usage
Data Use Limitation:
- General research use
- Project-specific restrictions
- Research-specific restrictions
Data Use Requirements:
- Disclosure control
- Institution-specific restrictions
- Project-specific restrictions
Resource Creator:
Public Health Scotland
Format and Standards
Vocabulary Encoding Scheme:
NHS SCOTLAND NATIONAL CODES
Conforms To:
NHS SCOTLAND DATA DICTIONARY
Language:
English
Format:
- text
- csv
Observations
Statistical Population
Population Description
Population Size
Measured Property
Observation Date
Persons
5500000
People
01 July 2026