Missed and delayed medication putting A&E patients at risk, new report reveals

Patients in A&E are being put in potentially life-threatening situations due to missed doses of prescription medicines, according to a new report.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) found people in A&E were not getting their medications on time and were missing doses needed to manage their illnesses – putting them at risk of getting worse.

Insulin for diabetes, Parkinson's drugs, epilepsy medicines and tablets for preventing blood clots are all time critical medicines (TCM).

If these drugs are delayed or missed, the patient can deteriorate and is at greater risk of complications or death.

While patients are advised to remember to bring their medications to A&E and to take them, there is also a responsibility on NHS staff to make sure this happens.

Despite the recognised risk of harm, the delivery of TCM is not consistent across emergency departments with long waiting times often contributing to this.

The study, which was part of the College's clinical Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) which aims to improve the care of A&E patients, found more than half of these patients were not identified as being on TCM within 30 minutes of their arrival in an emergency department.

In addition, 68% of doses were not administered within 30 minutes of the expected time.

"The findings contained in this report should serve as a call to action for both emergency medicine staff, as well as patients reliant on time critical medications, to ensure no dose is ever missed in A&E," said Dr Jonny Acheson, an emergency medicine consultant in Leicester who has Parkinson's, led the study.

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Source: The Independent, 7 April 2025

Further reading on the hub:

• Time-critical Parkinson’s medication: the human cost of delays and mistakes
• HSSIB investigation report: Medication not given: administration of time critical medication in the emergency department
• Parkinson's UK: Time critical medication guides for health professionals
• Improving safety for diabetic inpatients: 4 key steps
• D1abasics: Equipping staff to care safely for inpatients with diabetes