Hospitals rapped for failing to give patients medicines

By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News

The watchdog is writing to all the hospitals in England and Wales

Too many patients are not getting the medicines they need in hospital, a safety watchdog says.

The National Patient Safety Agency warned it was a problem in every hospital in England and Wales and is now writing to them urging action.

The watchdog said it had evidence of thousands of cases of patients getting their drugs late or not at all, including 27 resulting in deaths.

The government said patient safety was its top priority.

From September 2006 to June 2009, the NPSA received reports of 27 deaths, 68 cases of severe harm, including permanent disability, as well as another 21,000 less serious cases where drugs had not been given or had been given too late.

'Underestimate'

But as the NPSA relies on voluntary reporting of problems, it acknowledges the figures will be an underestimate.

In fact, the alert which is being sent out by the watchdog cites research published last year that suggested nearly a fifth of patients in hospital may not be getting their medicines.

The most common reason given was that the drug was unavailable on the ward.

But in other cases no reason was given, prompting fears nurses were forgetting to hand out drugs.

The warning also details some of the most serious cases.

In one, where a patient died from an infection, a doctor had ordered antibiotics to be given immediately but this was not done. The nurse in charge said she had been "too busy to listen".

CASE STUDY Swansea pensioner Derek Keys is still struggling with the after effects of his stay at hospital. He was admitted late last year for a knee operation, but it is not the consequences of the surgery that are causing him problems. Instead, the 75-year-old is facing a battle to control Parkinson's Disease, which he was diagnosed with 11 years ago. While he was in hospital staff did not give him his medication on time and as a result his Parkinson's symptoms, which include hallucinations, returned. Even now doctors are still trying to find the right combination of drugs to get his condition under control. His wife, Sylvia, says: "It has been very stressful and affected both our lives."

Antibiotics along with anti-coagulants, which are used to prevent blood clotting, are the drugs most likely to cause patients harm if they are forgotten, the NPSA said.

But the Parkinson's Disease Society has also been campaigning on the issue as drugs for the condition have to be given on time or symptoms can reappear quickly.

Professor David Cousins, head of medicine safety at the NPSA, said: "This is happening in every hospital. We hear a lot about malnutrition and errors with doses, and steps are being take to tackle these, but omission of medicines is being neglected.

"We are very worried about it."

The NPSA has now ordered all hospitals, including mental health units and community centres, to review their practices and carry out regular audits to monitor the issue.

It also wants to see hospitals draw up a list of critical medicines that must always be given on time and a system introduced to flag this up to staff.

Peter Walsh, chief executive of Action Against Medical Accidents, said: "We hear about these problems all too often. It is a major problem which can cause suffering.

"Hospitals seem to be in such a rush that basic care like this is forgotten and this needs to be tackled. But I also think carers and relatives can get involved and talk to staff about medication."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said patient safety was a "top priority".

"We expect all NHS organisations to have rigorous checks and reporting procedures in place to ensure that the services they provide are as safe as possible for all patients."

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