Two-thirds of homecare patient safety incidents linked to major provider

Two-thirds of patient safety incidents recorded during hospital trusts’ monthly reporting period for homecare medicine provision were for services provided by the company Sciensus, an investigation by The Pharmaceutical Journal has revealed.

In response to a freedom of information request sent to 131 hospital trusts in England in August 2023, 32 trusts recorded 417 patient safety incidents during their most recent monthly reporting period, which ranged from May to July 2023.

Some 66% of these incidents (277) related to services delivered by homecare provider Sciensus, despite providing medicines to fewer than half (44%) of the 96,849 patients covered in the data.

The findings come after the House of Lords Public Services Committee opened an inquiry into homecare medicines services in May 2023 following press reports of complaints from patient organisations and others about the service provided. The inquiry heard evidence from patient groups, regulators, homecare companies and the government during the summer and the committee will publish its report on 16 November 2023.

Sciensus was previously known as Healthcare at Home and is one of the UK’s largest homecare companies.  

The data also uncovered that Sciensus was a poor performer on “failed” deliveries, defined as those that did not arrive on the scheduled day.

Read full story

Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 9 November 2023