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Science Forum Index » Medicine - Nursing Forum » 60,000 reported Medication Blunders in UK in 18 months...
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| Ilena Rose... |
 Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:37 pm |
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News from Health Lover, Ilena Rosenthal:
http://ilenarose.blogspot.com
NHS: 60,000 medication blunders in 18 months
Every year, 24 patients die as a result of being given the wrong drug
or the wrong dose
By Brian Brady and Nina Lakhani
Sunday, 13 July 2008
What are these?
Medication blunders by NHS staff are killing patients at a rate of two
a month and costing the health service £775m a year, a watchdog has
revealed.
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has found that thousands of
patients are being given the wrong drugs, too little or too much of
their prescribed medication or miss doses altogether.
The study found 60,000 "medication incidents" were reported by
hospitals, GPs, pharmacists and community health centres over 18
months up to June 2006. Thirty-eight patients died as a result of
these mistakes and a further 54 were dangerously harmed. Experts
believe that fewer than one in 10 cases are reported, suggesting that
there may have been as many as 708 deaths out of one million
incidents.
These findings come a week after the NPSA Rapid Response Report which
urged "extra care" when administering powerful drugs such as morphine,
amid concerns incorrect dosing had caused several deaths since 2005.
Peter Walsh, chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, an
independent charity which offers legal advice for people affected by a
medical accident, said the level of reporting from health
professionals in primary care was "scandalously low".
He added: "Research tells us most incidents occur in primary care but
these numbers show professionals in these trusts are failing to take
this seriously. We are talking about basic, avoidable errors here. "
Patients with known drug allergies, particularly antibiotics,
particularly suffer as a result of being given those or similar
medications, says the report. Children under the age of five also
suffer, accounting for a tenth of all victims in cases where the age
was known.
Most incidents were caused by health workers giving the wrong
medication to the wrong patient, the wrong dose or strength of drug
being given out, or not given at all. Poor communication, failure to
read notes and miscalculation of doses are all to blame, according to
the NPSA.
The problem is hampered by poor reporting. Staff in care homes are
unable to report errors under the present system, which means mistakes
affecting the elderly, children and people with learning disabilities
are not included.
Norman Lamb, Lib Dem health spokesman, said the failure by one in four
NHS organisations to report any medication incidents, was "an
admission of abject failure to do the job properly".
He said: "The problem is significantly worse than the bold figures
suggests. What we desperately need is to understand why and learn
lessons from these mistakes. The cost to the NHS is enormous but so
are the human costs. The scale of the errors is frankly disturbing."
Thomas Garner, three, from Derbyshire, was prescribed a six-week
course of antibiotics by his local hospital for recurrent tonsillitis.
His mother, Tracey, was concerned because Thomas was told to take five
spoonfuls of the drug trimethoprim everyday. Within a week Thomas
became lethargic and pale. He had been prescribed 10 times the
recommended dose and could have suffered potentially fatal kidney
failure if he had completed the course. The hospital doctor had
mistakenly prescribed him the dose for a different antibiotic.
The NPSA wants tougher guidelines and training for staff, documenting
all patients' allergy status and an appeal to manufacturers not to
produce drugs that look too similar.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "Patient safety is of the
highest priority for the Department and the NHS." |
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