Drug safety review ordered in care homes amid patient fears

HEALTH chiefs have been ordered to carry out a major review of drug safety in care homes in the wake of a damning study which found manyelderly patients were at risk from errors.

Research in West Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire and London found as many as seven in 10 patients experienced at least one medication error.

Now the Department of Health has issued a nationwide alert urging

checks on medicine prescribing in nursing homes.

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The study found the risk of harm was relatively low but there was a danger of more serious blunders following errors by GPs, pharmacists and care home staff.

Overworked staff, poor teamwork and a lack of training all led to mistakes with drug prescribing, dispensing and administration that could harm people, it said.

The Department of Health said the alert was part of a wide-ranging action plan to strengthen medication safety in care homes.

"It is part of our continuing efforts to develop and accelerate local initiatives to reduce medication errors in care homes for older people," said a spokesman.

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"Patients and the public quite rightly expect and deserve the highest quality of care in any healthcare setting. The safe use of medicines is fundamental for patient safety and high quality care.

"A primary aim is to ensure adequate, sufficiently frequent and regular clinical review and monitoring of medication therapy, whether by GPs or pharmacists."

In the study of 256 residents at 55 care homes, 94 were victims of dispensing errors, 100 suffered prescribing errors including wrong dosages and too little information about taking medicines, while 57 suffered from a total of 116 administration errors including the wrong dose.

Staff faced high workloads and were not fully trained in medicines. Doctors were not accessible, did not know residents and lacked information in homes when prescribing, there was poor teamwork between homes, doctors and pharmacists, and poor record-keeping.

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Project co-ordinator David Alldred, lecturer in pharmacy at Leeds University, said he welcomed the alert although concerted safety improvements would need further action.

People in care homes needed checks to make sure their medicines were correct and properly administered but those working with and in care homes were often overstretched and did not have the time to carry out reviews.

There was also poor communications between care homes, GPs and pharmacists, who needed to be more involved.

"It's not often that research has such a big impact," he said. "The alert is about developing better systems and getting joint working.

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"The problem is that it is quite complex looking at all the different types of errors. There's certainly huge room for improvement."

There has been a growing focus on medication safety in care homes in recent months. The Government has promised strict curbs on the prescribing of antipsychotic drugs for residents with mental health problems including dementia in care homes following a report last year linking the drugs with 1,800 additional deaths a year.

A Royal College of Physicians report this week accused care homes of putting patients at risk by insisting they were fitted with feeding tubes. Around six per cent of patients given tubes die within a month and a third suffer ill effects.

It said tube feeding should be a last resort. Hospitals and care homes should ensure the provision of sufficient staff to assist and feed patients who may take a long time to eat a meal.