One in twelve NHS patient prescriptions contain errors

‘Impact can be significant’

MORE than 80 million prescriptions given to patients are wrong, Jeremy Hunt has warned. Patients routinely receive the incorrect medication or dosage because of errors by doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

The Health Secretary will launch a major review of prescribing mistakes in the next few months.

He is to commission a panel of experts who will examine why so many errors are being made and how they can be avoided in future.

Mr Hunt said previous research showed 8 per cent, or one in 12, of all prescriptions contained a mistake in medication, dose or length of course.

Approximately one billion prescriptions are written out on the NHS each year. That suggests that more than 80 million are wrong.

Although many of these are harmless, Mr Hunt said the impact ‘can be significant.’

Previous research shows that 5 to 8 per cent of patients admitted to hospital have been affected by some form of medication error or reaction.

And a further 4 per cent of hospital beds at any one time are occupied by a patient suffering the effects of medication. Many of these problems have been blamed on a lack of knowledge among GPs about what is the most appropriate drug to prescribe and the dose.

Others are likely to be simple oversights caused by tiredness, being overworked or inter- tionsThe reviewby other will patientsbegin at or the staff.end of this year or early next year and will involve NHS England’s chief pharmaceutical officer Dr Keith Ridge. It will look at a range of initia- uptives to reduce mistakes, including the use of computer systems to minimise human errors and educating patients on what drugs they should be on.

Mr Hunt said: ‘Up to 1 in 12 prescriptions may include a mistake and whilst we’re lucky most don’t cause harm to patients, there is more we can do to tackle the problem and make the NHS safer.

‘That’s why I’ve launched a new scheme working with the NHS to reduce these errors and protect patients.

‘This will look at a number of areas where we can do better: from improving how we use technology such as electronic prescribing, to understanding how best to educate and inform patients about their medicines, as well as supporting seven-day clinical pharmacy services in acute hospitals and working with care homes and GPs.

‘It will also look at how we might improve the transfer of information about medicines when patients move between care settings, as we know that these transition points can be times when things go wrong.’

One of the most high profile mistakes occurred when David Gray, 70, died after being given ten times the recommended dose of morphine by an exhausted German GP.

Mr Gray thanked the doctor for the pain relief but died just three hours later at his home in Manea, Cambridgeshire.

Other common errors include patients being given a drug for too long, or receiving an ineffective low dosage.

Patients may also be given medications to which they are allergic or which react with another drug, causing unpleasant side effects.